Perspectives in Gratitude

My Mother-in-law is serving a mission in St. Croix. She has been blogging about her experiences to help us stay up-to-date on her experiences, and wrote this morning about the discouraging news of having her purse stolen from inside their car. Credit cards, missionary papers, money, so many things missing. The best comment she wrote in her written report was speculating about the person or people who took her purse, particularly the ipod she had recently purchased.

"The thief will be expecting music and will find the Book of Mormon in Spanish, the Hymns and Himnos (Spanish Hymns) and the Children's songbook. I hope it does him some good."

Her purse was found later, with only the cash and ipod missing. Is that the silver lining? Or is that a mixed blessing (getting back most of her stuff, including the purse itself)?

Several years ago, I drove to Utah with my six kids (one recently potty trained) and a niece. I was the only driver. In two days. It was
AWESOME!

2200 miles. 34 miles of driving in 49 hours. Laborious, to say the least.


At about mile 2193, we were approaching the canyon where Interstate 80 comes down into Salt Lake Valley, I smelled the sweet, sickly hint of radiator fluid. I figured it was another car, because I had seen no steam coming from the hood of our van. But when I glanced at the temperature gauge, I saw the needle close to red.

I shifted to neutral, and turned off the engine. We were coasting. Somehow, we had overheated and I had detected no problems until this final horrible moment. Recalling tidbits I had heard about overheating engines, I opened the windows, and turned on the fan, setting the temp to high heat (I guess the air flowing through the engine draws some of the heat with it?).

We continued to coast. About ten miles to go. I thought it was all downhill from there. Ever coasted downhill in a van full of children at 80 miles an hour? STRESSFUL!

We made it to the valley. I coasted up the ramp to 33rd south, and then continued coasting downhill towards my in-law's house. We made it to their place at 4:45, and got in touch with an auto-shop who could see us immediately. The radiator lines that ran to the rear heater of the van had rusted through, but they were able to repair it before the close of business the next day.
Is it appropriate to be wildly grateful that of all the places for the radiator line to fail, it was ten miles away (an all downhill coast!) from the end of our 2200 mile drive? Is that just self-delusion?

Is life one long tragedy, or a constant delight? Are cheerful people just in denial of all the problems that beset them, that are about to befall? Are cynical people wrong to refuse to look for the bright side, the silver lining?

I side with the cheery ones. I instinctively move towards things that are joyful, towards happiness. Sometimes, that means I get disappointed, hoping for things that fall apart. Sometimes, my reach exceeds my grasp.

So be it. Being grateful is a decision. Its perspective informs and is informed by my faith, my certainty that there is a God, that the world is a good and necessary place and that there is happiness to be found in all circumstances. I am grateful for my ability to BE grateful.