One of my children has been struggling with pessimism lately. So we talked about the glass being half empty or full analogy, and decided that every night before bed, we would try to think of 3 things that were positive that happened during the day. In an attempt to help him adjust his mindset, it's made me reflect on my own perspectives, and I realized that I could use a little tweak in the way I see things as well. One thing that really helped was a letter I received from Margret, the 10 year old girl from Uganda that we sponsored to attend school this year. The kids all did a myriad of jobs all summer to earn the $250 cost of her schooling, uniform, books, and supplies. I was really proud of their efforts, but never really thought we would ever hear back from her, but we did! Here is an excerpt from her letter:"My lovely parents and family from America, I want to thank you for the love and care you have started showing me and thank you for choosing me, I was really very happy when I received such good news. Thank you for the good hearts you have, my dear ones. I love you and will always pray for you. Thank you for the school fees, and books. I am already at school and I won't have to go back home since you are helping me…I remain your lovely daughter, Margret Nabatanzi"
I was having a not-so-great-day before I received this letter, and the sincerity and humility with which she wrote completely turned my whole week around. If a girl who has been orphaned and lives in complete poverty can be happy and thankful, so can I. Thank you, Margret.
3 comments:
You know what I love the very most about this? That your children would work hard to earn that money together, when it would have been easy for you to have simply written out a check instead. You are amazing parents! As for the pessimism part of the post, what a wonderful thing to take the time to help your child recognize the good in their day. You are awesome!
I love the intro photo with comment, "I think the glass is twice as big as it should be"! What a brilliant outside the box way at looking at things. Margret sees life through a completely different size glass than we do. It's not that we need to add water from our life, we need to start putting our water in the right size glass--ie. change the parameters of our thinking. For example, if we were to see our life as a sacrament cup, then we would be overwhelmed by our abundance and the over flowing of our blessings!
You do so much for others. It makes us proud to have you as a part of our family. When I hear and see others helping the less fortunate my heart swells with joy. What a wonderful lesson you've taught your children.
The earlier remarks really hit home. The Lord has promised if we pay our tithing the windows of heaven will be opened and we'll have so much we can't hold it all. And if I see life with the right size cup I can then see the many, many blessings I'm given. Thank-you.
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