one of mother teresa's nuns came to her one day and said, "mother, we have a problem." and,mother teresa replied, "we don't have a problem. we have a gift."
talk about your parallel universe.
talk about the truth.
when i heard about mother teresa's comment (more than a comment - a way of life. more than a way of life - an homage to God), i dang near drove off the side of the road.
oh, sure.......i've heard about your sliver linings. i've heard about picking yourself up and getting back on the horse. i've definitely heard of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. but, "we don't have a problem.....we have a gift???"...........whoa. that's something else altogether.
i think mother teresa probably meant a coupla things - a coupla true things - when she said that.
i think she meant that a person's perspective and attitude about something is way more important than the something itself.
i think she meant that problems usually highlight a failing in ourselves - a failing that we now have the privilege of fixing.
i think she meant that if things always went well, with no bumps in the road, we'd all be pretty nice and decent people. but where's the victory in being nice and decent when everything is going well, with no bumps in the road? the real victory - and the one i think God cares about the most - is whether or not we can be nice and decent - and grateful and loving and unselfish - when the bumps in the road are so big you'd like to kill somebody.
i think she meant that problems are opportunities. not merely opportunities to sharpen our skills, get better grades, get more promotions. not even just opportunities to be better people. opportunities to serve the Lord.
i think she meant that problems are God's version of wake-up calls.
wake-up calls to be humble. to be selfless. to be charitable.
wake-up calls to say to the moron ahead of me in line who has 22 items when he's only supposed to have 15 and he can't count money worth a damn......wake-up calls to say to him, "i forgive you."
and wake-up calls to say to myself......... "love more."
