Look At It This Way

…for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

Sometimes it’s all in how you look at it!  That little thought popped into my head as I was walking out the west facing living room door to hang up some laundry Saturday afternoon.  It’s late September and that means the sunny west side of the house, including the screen door is plastered with box-elder bugs. I don’t know why they come every fall, I don’t know why they like the west sun and I certainly don’t know why they gather by the hundreds on my door.

As I was swatting my way through the cloud of bugs with my wet basket of wash, I had to giggle and realize it could be worse. Other than being annoying and puzzling those bugs don’t really harm anything. As I was hanging sheets and towels I began to think about how awful it would be if those pesky little things stung or bit or were filled with venomous spit or something…that would really be awful.  I soon realized it really wasn’t such a bad thing at all.  As I finished my task and headed to the house, I wondered how many other thing I was looking at all wrong; here’s my list.

*Teaching in 90 degree heat with a room full of kids that smell like sweaty pencils isn’t so bad when I consider what the folks who were in Harvey, Irma or Maria’s path are dealing with.

*Getting up to go to the bathroom a few times a night isn’t so bad when you consider all the folks that don’t have clean water to drink.

*The world if full of problems and knuckleheads.  My concern should be not causing more problems, not worrying about the ones I can’t do anything about and certainly trying everything I can think of in order not to become another knucklehead!

*Lots of folks say we’re going to hell in a hand basket…I’m not gonna grab one of those baskets…I’ll just pick up a bag and keep on trying to head for heaven. 

*Just because someone says so doesn’t make it true. I can waste lots of minutes trying to pick a side or I can just remember God is the author of truth and I only need to worry about picking his side.

*I’m rounder than I’d like, I’m shorter than I’d like, my life is not glamorous, I’m not rich, I don’t have a fancy anything but I have WAY more than I need, and WAY more than I deserve because I’m loved by a Father who spoils me rotten with his grace and mercy and love.

*Hot coffee, green grass, freedom to pray on my front porch, a clothes line to hang wash, a family I love and a job that challenges and delights me daily…I’m rich and more privileged than royalty!  

Oh wait…I forgot…I am royalty because I am the daughter of the King of  heaven and earth.  It’s all in how you look at it!

A Seed To Plant:  Make a list of the things that “bug” you and then flip them over and look at them another way.​

Blessings on your day!