Life in a Box

What makes you happy? What are things that make you mad?

Think about yesterday as today is probably too new. Did anything make you mad yesterday? Can you remember?

Something made me mad. I was really upset that my husband complained about the food I fixed. He didn't help fix it, and I'm totally unused to having him complain about my food. I guess that's something.

Getting mad, however, was a choice I made. I chose to let what someone else said get "under my skin."

That same husband tells a story about a woman he met years ago. He says she is the most joyful Christian he ever met. Well, that's interesting when you know the rest of the story.

She lived (even as an adult) with her sister and her husband. She spent all her days in a small box on wheels. Only her head peeped out of the box. She had no legs or arms. She was born that way. But she never stopped smiling! I'm sure she had her moments, but she smiled and laughed a lot. She was contagiously full of laughter and life! She knew Jesus, and that made a difference in how she lived!

Living in a box - now that's something worth complaining about or even being mad at God about! Getting mad about being served the same food at consecutive meals or even getting mad because someone pointed that out - as my sister says, "That's small beans!"

Living in a box with no arms or legs - that's cause to be angry, sad and even self-absorbed. But the girl in the box was none of those things. She was happy and content! She was interested in other people! She was willing to wait for someone to move her box or comb her hair or cover her when she was cold. What an incredible life!

Actually she wasn't particularly special, and she would tell you that, too. She was only smiling and happy and content because she knew Jesus. Her heart was on the path of restoration!

Remembering her makes me feel pretty foolish about things that cause me to complain! Getting angry over "small beans" is pretty silly when I think of the girl in the box.

It is all about where our hearts are and our perspective because of what's in our hearts. Getting mad and complaining about things that don't matter all that much says more about my heart than anything else! Am I (Are you) gutsy enough to ask God to stop me in my complaining tracks and to show me what does really matter today?

The girl in the box says it all - it's all about what's in the heart!