Not Fair!-- A Lesson On Missing Out

The month of June is over, and I feel like I spent most of it sick in bed. On my birthday, the 26th, I was still sick, but was happy because my new rosebush had its first big burst of blooms. I had a two-dozen rose bouquet from God, and loved it!

I had been waiting until they all bloomed to get a picture, then on my birthday I asked my husband to go cut me a bunch to bring the beauty inside.

He did. I smelled them and marveled at their beauty; they were worth waiting for.

Not long after that I noticed I was having trouble breathing. Uh-oh, asthma.

I used my inhaler and with disappointment I brought the vase-full downstairs. When I'd come downstairs, I'd marvel at the beauty . . . until my lungs started getting irritated again.

Finally, I gave up and admitted the roses were causing the problem, and as I was already trying to recover from another sickness, the last thing I needed was to aggravate my entire system by stubbornly keeping an allergen right there in the house.

I took my beautiful vase-full and put it outside on the back deck. At first it made me sad to look at it--a visual of all I miss out on having these health problems.

Then I stopped myself. I was thinking the wrong way--the fleshly, it's-not-fair way that not only doesn't do me any good, but it actually does my heart and soul harm by keeping me focused on what is unlovely in this life.

I don't usually get on the computer on Sunday, but tonight I am on purpose. This is my act of worship, to choose to turn my mind from what is flesh to what is spirit. I am choosing to think according to God's wisdom and beauty rather than my own selfish perspective that puts me in a corner and feels sorry for myself.

For all of you who miss out on aspects of life you used to enjoy, or you have a hole in your life where someone or something beloved used to be, you know what I mean. Your flesh wants to focus on all you miss, but in doing so we miss what we still have. The earth is FULL of the goodness of the Lord (Psalm 33:5), which means no matter what has been taken away, there is still so much still around us that is good.

Like my roses. Once I set the roses outside, I could either choose to turn away from their beauty because I could not have them the way I wanted, or I could choose to focus on what I still had--the roses themselves, the eyesight to see how beautiful they were, the love of a Father that sent twenty-four of them right on my birthday. None of that was diminished. It was only my perspective that made those things less important in the wake of what I felt I should enjoy.

Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and as His presence is always with me, goodness is always there to be seen, if only I will choose to see it.

What will you choose to see today--what is missing, or what is still there?



Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 
Psalm 34:8 NKJV