Category: Coping

  • How do you see the glass of your life? Is it half-full or half-empty?                                   Blog. glass_of_water half full. 1.23

    Every day of our lives, we choose. 

    We can focus on what have or on what we lack. Give thanks for what is or wail about what is not.

    Truth is, we decide what kind of life we're living.

    That makes no sense, especially in the middle of a hard time, right?

    Wrong. It makes perfect sense. Why make a bad situation worse by holding a never-ending pity party?

    I know a woman who as a teenage girl heard her doctor announce, "You have Muscular Dystrophy. I'm sorry, but there is no treatment and there is no cure."

    That was more than forty years ago. Since that dark day "Mary" has experienced the progressive weakening of her body. She and one of our daughters have been friends since both were in their twenties. Whenever I go to visit that daughter I also see Mary and I've observed the progression of her M. D. At this point she astounds her doctors just by being alive. In order to remain in her home she depends absolutely on the help of caregivers, family and friends.

    They all love her. So do the paramedics who sometimes rush her to the hospital, as well as her doctors and nurses.

    Why wouldn't they? Mary accepts the facts of her life without bemoaning her fate. Her smile is as wide as a house and her sense of humor never fails. Through it all, she maintains her feisty spirit and exudes life.

    I never heard Mary complain. Her faith in a loving God remains strong and her eyes reveal the peace within her.

    Mary spends her days in a motorized wheelchair and accepts various physical indignities calmly. Does she ever give in to frustration? Of course. She's no plaster saint. Does she take it out on caregivers and people who love her? Not by all accounts. Despair may come knocking, but if so, she apparently refuses to answer the door.

    Her horizons broadened some years ago when friends installed a user-friendly E-mail program she could manage. She promptly became an E-mail champ, exchanging messages with people all over the country. Since she had unlimited time, she became the go-to person for Google research.

    When holding books and newspapers on her own became impossible TV viewing seemed the only way to fill her days. Kindle changed all that. Once again the wider world opened up to her. Mary quickly became the authority on which new book(s) to read.

    This past year her increasing weakness threatened to cut all this short. Then came the I-Pad. Now once someone places a stylus in each of her hands she can E-mail, watch movies or read a wide assortment of books, plus several newspapers.

    Nevertheless, most of us would consider her glass half-empty. 

    Not Mary. She focuses on the fullness of her life, the gift of modern technology and on friends and family who take her places and treat her with love. Mary would say she knows a blessing when she sees one.

    Each of us deals with our own set of challenges and our own testings every day. Yet the question for us is the same as for Mary: How will we choose to perceive our lives?

    One thing more. Mary calls on God to get her through her days. We can, too.

    God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble . . . I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

    –Psalm 46:1; Philippians 4:13

    What do you think? Comments, please.

    Here's to having eyes that see the fullness in our lives,

    Lenore


    Half-full or half-empty?

  • Blog. Titanic 2. 11.10 marschall_-_rms_titanic_-_passage_to_eternity At first glance it seems like a reach to think there could be any connection between the Titanic and how you and I think. 

    Not true.

    The experts and the press pronounced the Titanic "invincible," even "unsinkable." They based these grandiose terms on the ship's new design. Its hull featured watertight compartments, so that even if the ship were damaged the water would be safely contained within compartments. 

    Except the compartments turned out not to be so watertight after all.  

    Soooo . . . What does that have to do with you and me? Just this. Every one of us can remember times when the unexpected made us crumple in pain. Pain in life is an inevitable part of being alive. We can't escape it any more than we can escape dust gathering on furniture.

    The only control we have is how we handle what comes into our lives. That's where the comparison to the Titanic comes in.

    A major factor in sinking the Titanic was that the water spilled over from one compartment into the next, all down the line. Our pain can slosh over into every part of our lives . . . unless we take control of it. What helps us stay afloat is to deliberately turn our thoughts to other people and other areas of our life, at least for part of the day.

    Otherwise our pain will cast a cloud over everything and everyone in our lives. If we let that happen we'll miss the moments of joy–and they're just as real as the pain.

    How do we do this? Centuries ago the Apostle Paul wrote these timeless words in Philippians 4:8:

    Finally, brothers [and sisters,] whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

    This verse is my go-to place when I feel overwhelmed. I read this listing again and again. Each time I feel calmed. It's like being reminded who I am and how I can reflect the Light within me into the dark places.

    Or, using the Titanic analogy, those words help keep my watertight compartments watertight. More than that. They point me to the God who never leaves us and who gives us peace in-the-midst (Philippians 4:9.)

    Question for you: What works for you? (Just click on the word "Comments" below.)

    Blessings and love,

    Lenore

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Lessons for us from the Titanic