It Could Be Worse...

A friend of mine has a friend (we will call her Penny) who was hit by a falling tree. She ended up paralyzed from mid-chest down. She was 46 years old. Still fairly young and plenty of life left to live. Think about that. Put yourself in her shoes. A tree fell on you, you are embolized, and you don’t know how it’s going to end. Will you survive it? Will you have lasting issues? Can you feel your legs? How would you react?

A few days after the accident, my friend went to visit Penny. My friend is a nurse, so she had a pretty good idea of what Penny was in for when she heard she was paralyzed. How would you react as her friend? Would you hold her hand and tell her it will be all right? Would you be frank with her and say, “I’m sorry, dear friend, but your life will never be the same; someone will have to wait on you the rest of your life, and there will be medical procedures time after time.”? Or would you just hold her hand and maybe cry with her? (Maybe all three?)

Penny, who is still living 25 years later, is an amazing woman. When my friend visited her that day only days after she was injured, Penny said to her, “I guess God thinks He can use me more in a wheelchair.” Imagine it. Would most of us feel we would be of more use in a wheelchair than out of one? I highly doubt it. (And she is an amazing witness!)

So I say to you, it can always be worse. Maybe Penny’s worse is that she could have been a quadriplegic (paralyzed from the neck down), or that she didn’t have a wonderful, loving husband who stayed by her side and loved her through every bit of it, or that she might not have had the faith to move forward, but Penny didn’t think that way – if she did, it was brief indeed. She didn’t feel sorry for herself or curse God, or the universe, or the tree… No, right away she was ready to do what she could within the parameters she was suddenly and irrevocably given.

When we are frustrated with the people, or the world around us, or our lives as they are, let’s remember: it could be worse. We can’t change people and sometimes we can’t change our circumstances, so it is better to change our attitude in how we deal with the situations in our lives. There are so many people who are dealing with life crushing and heart crushing things, and they have to look deeper to see the blessings. SEE THE BLESSINGS. Look for the blessings. Be the blessings. Life can be rough, and sometimes we have no choice with what we are dealt. That is when we must remember that it could be worse. Penny’s motto: “Always choose joy.”

"Penny" in her hand operated bike, and again with her grandchild. Body bound by her physical restrictions, but heart and spirit free as a bird as she chooses joy for her life.