A Taste of Perspective

Perspective is one of those things that seems to come into my life for moments at a time, and then leaves just as quickly as it came. I wish that I were not such a spoiled North American. However, I have to wonder if a lack of perspective is part of this sinful human condition that we all live in. Does everyone in the world lose track of what really matters in life?

My morning started with all of the kids rushing into the classroom, and we started to get settled. The kids were doing bell work and I was checking agendas. Then, one of the wonderful, helpful, put together moms comes in with this terrifying, numb look of hysteria on her face. Her eyes were full of tears and she was shaking as she told me that a 3 yr old child had died in front of her family's home this morning. SHe said that they did CPR on the child, but that she thinks it was too late, and the little girl died. She wanted to let me know, because although her son did not see the child die, he was present for the frantic scene that followed.

Woah.

My heart broke for this woman, and for the parents of the child who died. I can't even begin to imagine. We take our regular and "boring" lives for granted. Here I was feeling tired, and stressing out about how I could get this kid to write more, this kid to talk less, that kid to read more, this kid to sit still. All the while there are things going on all around me that I may not even be aware of.

You think your day was bad? Did your child die? Did you work doing CPR on a toddler, only to watch the life slip out of them? Did you slave away in the desert heat for 12 hours, just to make $30 to send home to your family, as you return to your room that you share with 40 others and sleep on your soaked mattress just to keep cool?  This is the reality for many people here.

How is it that we forget about our blessings so easily? I need these reminders more often than I would like to think. I need to remember that I am in the small percentage of the world's population who is given the opportunity to travel just for the sake of seeing the world and learning.

A wise man once said in Luke 12:48 " From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

I have been given much. Have you? What does this mean in our lives? How does this change who I am as a friend, a family member, a teacher?

Food for thought.

Happy Sunday,
Laura