Once a mother asked her eldest son to go buy a bottle of oil at a shop.
On the way home from buying oil, the eldest fell. The oil in the bottle spilled in half.
“Mom, I fell down and spilled half a bottle of oil,” he said.
The next day, it was the youngest turn whose mother asked him to go buy oil. The same incident repeated.
On the way home the youngest fell and the oil he was carrying spilled in half.
“Mom, I fell just now. The oil spilled, but I managed to save half of it,” he said.
The eldest and the youngest experienced the same incident, but there is one thing that distinguishes them, and that is the way of view. The eldest sees his experience negatively, while the youngest sees his experience positively.
That was also the case with the twelve spies sent by Moses. They see the same reality. However, they went home with a much different report. The ten scouts saw with pessimistic eyes that the challenges they saw were impossible to overcome. The other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, saw optimistically that with the help of the Almighty God they would be able to overcome all the challenges that lay ahead.
The key is to focus on the positive. Just as the youngest in the story above focused on the half of the oil he saved, Joshua and Caleb also focused on God’s love, inclusion, and care.
What is the reality we are facing today? Try to make a list of what good things are behind it. Then focus our minds and hearts on those good things. The effect will be completely different. What matters is not what happens, but how we respond to it.
𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐫 