Offer A New Perspective

Offer a New Perspective

The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. Isaiah 50:4

Emily had trouble making decisions. Even selecting a birthday card could throw her into a panic. More than once she bought two cards, one serious and one humorous, and sent both of them to the same individual. Most of her friends thought the action excessive and a little strange, but they shrugged it off. One friend, though, decided to ask her about it at lunch.

Emily hesitated but finally answered, “When I can’t decide which card someone would like, I send both so they’ll be happy with at least one.”

Her friend nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But one card is enough.”

Emily frowned. “But what if you don’t like the card I picked out?”

“I just think it’s great when someone remembers my birthday,” her friend answered. “You could send your greetings in green crayon written on a brown paper bag, and I’d still be thrilled.”

Emily shook her head. “Boy, I wish my grandma had had that attitude. She found something wrong with every card I ever sent her.”

Her friend leaned forward. “Emily,” she said, “that was then. This is now. You’re an adult. You don’t have to keep trying to please a dead grandmother.”

Emily exhaled as if she had been holding her breath for a long time. And all because a supportive friend took the time to help her see a situation differently.

—SANDRA

Lord, help me to remember that what I see as small encouragement can make a world of difference to someone who is hurting.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

—MOTHER TERESA (1910–1997), FOUNDER OF MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY IN CALCUTTA, INDIA