My youngest daughter had a soccer tournament this past weekend that took us through North Carolina and into the mountains of Tennessee. Although we figured it would take awhile to get there, we weren’t prepared for the amount of traffic we’d run into along the way. The historic floods which devastated that part of the country are still very much an issue on the roadways and, of course, in the everyday lives of the people who were impacted.
Which leads me to something my daughter said that put everything in perspective.
As we crawled past the traffic cones to our right and left, she piped up from the backseat. She said she could see clouds hovering within the trees. She went on to describe that it looked like heaven had come to earth to say hello. And just like that, I instantly thought of the people living in FEMA shelters or those who lost everything due to raging waters carrying away their belongings, and perhaps their dreams along with it.
Perspective has a way of doing that to us every now and then. In that moment, I have my daughter to thank for allowing me to see why the traffic existed in the first place. A small inconvenience for me is still a massive life problem for so many who are still dealing with it.
It’s amazing what can happen when we stop to think about what we should be thankful for versus thinking of what we don’t have. A simple umbrella can be the difference between a rain soaked body and one that’s perfectly dry. An item you can purchase for around $20 can either make or break your day. And yet, most of us won’t be thankful for having the umbrella, we’ll instead be upset that it’s raining in the first place.
It’s not like we have to go around thanking a higher power for every little thing we have in our lives; however, having perspective in any situation can certainly help to change things for the better.
I’m definitely guilty of the glass half empty mentality. Without my daughter’s sweet voice bringing me back down to earth and allowing me to see the beauty of the moment, I may never have gotten there on my own. I wish that wasn’t true but it most likely is. Regardless, having people in our lives to help us see the good in all things is helpful and sometimes necessary when we don’t have the ability to see them on our own.
A teenager may groan when an alarm wakes them up, while someone in their 90s may feel grateful simply for the chance to wake up to another day. Someone who is used to the finer things in life but now lives in poverty would have a much different perspective than someone who grew up in a cramped apartment but now lives in a spacious house.
Where we fall within this spectrum might be different but the idea of having perspective would remain the same. Being thankful for what we have shouldn’t be a one day a year proposition. It should be something we hold in our heart while helping others who may not be as lucky and need a leg up to help them achieve the perspective we already have.
We can’t always control the circumstances life throws our way, but we can control how we choose to see them. Sometimes, all it takes is a different perspective to recognize the blessings we have and remember those who need our help the most.
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Patrick Byrne lives in Tega Cay with his wife and two daughters. After 25 years working for a Big 4 bank, he retired to pursue his passion for writing. Additional articles and content can be found on his blog (reverian1776.blogspot.com) and freethepeople.org.
Patrick can be reach via email at [email protected]
