Perspectives

Monday night I heard from a friend of mine who hails from several states away; his teenager that day had taken active steps towards self-harm and threatened to keep at it, so he was at the ER.  He spoke harrowingly of a beloved child who that day could not see the love, could only see the darkness and who had "had it" with the darkness and just wanted out.  We spoke only briefly, as he had so much to tend to (securing a referral to an adolescent psychiatric facility, juggling paperwork and a distraught teen); we texted; and I so much wanted to be there to do something to help.

The next day, on taking my mom around to various appointments, I learned the twinges in her right leg come from a spinal stenosis that's not severe enough to merit surgery, just fortnightly visits to Centreville for cortisone shots; the fall she sustained from the bed Sunday morning meant a visit to the optometrist; her cat needed food from the vet; and all in all I didn't make it in to the office until after 1, wherein I learned of the various lacks-of-progress in various projects, and generally had a quite frustrating afternoon at the office.

Sometimes I believe God places things in front of us by way of a message.  The message of Monday night, interpreted in the light of Tuesday, was, to me, "You might find this frustrating, that's true.  But you really don't have it that bad at all, do you?  You are blessed; whether you stop to acknowledge it is up to you, but y'know what, you really aren't that badly off."

Garrison Keillor said it well: Thank you, dear God, for this good life, and forgive us if we do not love it enough.