SAME VIEW DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Two men were in a nursing home.  One bed was by the window, and the other by the door.  Every day the man in the bed by the door would ask his roommate, "What do you see out there today?"  The man in the bed by the window would say, "Oh, the sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day.  I can see a mother playing with her children by the lake."  His roommate would ask, "What's on that lake?"  And the man with the view would describe what he saw, "Oh, I believe I can see a little duck - yes, there it is.  There's a duck."  He described the view in the summer time, the fall, the winter, and the spring.

Then one day he died.  Now the man by the window had the opportunity to switch beds.  So he did.  He got his things, made the bed, propped up his pillows, looked outside and saw nothing--nothing but a gray brick wall.  From every angle, all he could see was the side of the building next door.  He called the nurse in and asked, "When did that wall go up?  It's spoiling my view."  She said, "Sir, that wall has always been there."

The man didn't say much for a few days, then one day he asked the nurse when he would be getting a new roommate.  She told him it would be very soon.  "That's good," he said.  "I can hardly wait for him to come so I can tell him all I see outside our window."

I thought that's a very encouraging illustration.  We may be prompted with the same view, opportunity, or circumstances.  But our perspective of it is what matters.  The Samaritan saw a man who needed help by the side of the road.  The priest saw filthiness and defilement.  The Levite saw trouble and inconvenience.  But the Samaritan saw a man.  Same view.  Different perspective.  What do you see around you?  What do you see coming out from your experience or difficulties?  Do you see in the eyes of a human and feel disappointed of it OR you see in the eyes of the Lord and feel satisfied of the circumstances you have been put under?

May this be a blessing!