Perspective

The heat has cranked up this week here and it has added to our seemingly constant tiredness. The other night we got to bed at a semi-reasonable hour and were both looking forward to a good night of sleep. About 1 am Anna screamed out. She was having a nose bleed all over the place that took several minutes to get control of. About that time, Asha woke up and promptly threw up on herself . So while Melinda was trying to calm and comfort I, still in somewhat of a fog, tried to do damage control to the blood and vomit stains on sheets and pajamas. I had a fleeting sense that we were fortunate that these two things happened concurrently, but in general, my attitude was more like, "woe is me, why can't we get a good night's sleep?" So I opened our back balcony door to hang a few things on the clothesline. As I looked through the alley out to the main road, I saw a man, lying next to his family on the hard, dirty cement, roll over, as if there could be a possible comfortable position to be found. Graciously, God had granted me a fresh perspective on the goodness and bounty of my life, how quick I am to grumble and complain, and how hard life is for so many of our poor neighbors in this city. Lord, continue to grant me fresh eyes to see beyond the confines of my self-absorbed life every day.