John Moore's thought for the month

"But for the darkness, we should never know the stars"

(Anon)

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Words are a fascinating topic for study, in any language. The Chinese have a very expressive word for crisis; they put together two characters, one meaning trouble the other opportunity.

Too often when a crisis blows up all we can see is the trouble which confronts us. But we are staring at the problem with only one eye, instead of two, for crisis equals troubles plus opportunity.

Some years ago an American serviceman was posted to a training camp on the edge of the Mojave Desert in Southern California and took his wife with him. Day to day living in the desert came as a shock to all of them and his wife hated the place. She wrote to her father: "I've never been so miserable in all my life. The heat is unbearable 125 degrees in the shade of a cactus; the wind never stops blowing; sand gets into the food; my husband is away all day on exercises and there is no one around except Mexicans and they speak no English."

In reply her father simply offered an old saying:
Two men look out through the same bars;
One sees mud and one the stars.
It proved to be just the word she needed.

She studied the fascinating forms of cactus and yucca. She found out about prairie dogs; watched for breath-taking sunsets; hunted for seashells, left there millions of years ago when the sands of that desert were an ocean bed. She took a course in astronomy and rejoiced when the velvet night sky shared some of its secrets with her.

What had changed? Not the desert. Not the heat. Not the sand nor the wind. Not the local people. It was her attitude and outlook which were different. She still looked through the bars of a tough situation. But she now looked up and saw not only problems but also opportunities to explore, fresh experiences to enjoy. See trouble coming, and for most of us that is all we see. The problem fills the horizon. The more we stare at it the worse it looms Jesus had problems too. Have you ever viewed the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in that light and thought how did he cope?
The disciples wanted him to send the hungry crowds off home before they got out of hand. But that was not the way Jesus chose. He faced the situation. He sized up the available resources. Look hard enough and there always five loaves and two fishes to be found. How was it that he was able to deal with the trouble so unhurriedly, so surely, so calmly?.

The secret lay in his constant attitude of gratitude. All four gospel writers report that in the midst of the crisis in the desert, while others could only wring their hands, Jesus calmly looked up to heaven and gave thanks. Jesus knew the deepest secret there is to learn: that God is good.

Troubles, the saying goes never come singly. Quite so; God our Father will make sure that there is also provision available to deal with it.

DJL.