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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Want a change of perspective?

One that isn't about you, that you have a small house, an old car or that you don't have the newest iphone.

Imagine having everything and then having hurricane Katrina hit your lovely city. You lose it all. You are now living under a bridge.

I was talking to a man who runs a place where homeless people with mental disorders can have a place to stay, and he said that people who live under the bridge are given very few things to live off of, I don't remember most of the things he listed, but one was a cardboard box to use as a pillow or to protect them from rain. There were so many people under that bridge, sleeping on the concrete, laying on nothing but a piece of cardboard.

After seeing that, I stopped complaining about the cot I was sleeping in for the week. I stopped complaining about the loud air conditioner in our room, and I stopped complaining about our showers being in tents outside. (don't ask, it's hard to explain.)

Everyone always talks about how we take the things we have for granted, I don't know about you, but I tend to kind of ignore the people that say stuff like "your lucky to have a roof over your head" or "don't complain about your food, there are starving kids out there." I guess we will never understand how good we have it until we see with our own eyes the people just like you and I who had it all... then lost it all.

I was talking to this homeless man I saw on a bench at the riverwalk, he was quite drunk and about half of what he said made no sense at all.  He knew so much scripture. We talked to him for about an hour and one of the things he said to me that stood out was "I'm blessed. I woke up this morning. I'm blessed."

Thank God for the things you have. for life. for this beautiful world He has created for us. Don't take it for granted.

3 comments:

  1. that was a touching story. A great story on perspective. I definitely complain about the things I do have sometimes instead of being thankful for what I have. Reading this is going to make me be thankful for the things I do have.

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  2. thanks for the insight Erin. Being a christian is not always easy (and I imagine it is a struggle for you too sometimes) but meeting a person like you, with your ability to reason things out like this is an inspiration.
    John

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  3. I always love reading what you write. You make me think and truly did change my perspective. This is just so beautiful

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