Sunday I felt some dismay at how things were going.  A great weekend was marred by a work e-mail I read, which left me disappointed at best.

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Yesterday, a colleague stopped by.  He related an emotional struggle with a child, living at home at 19 years old, still in college.  His pain was real, and so much deeper than my own.  I recalled the last time I felt this same sense of dread after reading an e-mail from work, only a few weeks ago.  That day, I stopped by a local business and the proprietor related how he was now working his real job AND three nights a week at a fast food restaurant AND on weekends cleaning offices just to put his kids through college.

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My vision was corrected to 20/20 rather quickly.  I realized that each time I went to work feeling discouraged, God gave me a glimpse of real hardship, real pain, real … life.  God, in His mercy and love, carries me through my challenges.  In bringing me to new understanding, I am reminded to consider others before myself.  A self-centered viewpoint leads only to self-induced despair, when in reality I am blessed by both trials and triumphs.

God’s Word sharpens our focus, and in Philippians 2:3-4, it is written

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

May I look outward rather than inward!