Last week, a young mother reached out to our nonprofit, Aaron’s Angels of Hope, looking for help getting formula for her baby.
She had contacted several local organizations, but for different reasons, none of them were able to help her. She was in immediate need because she was about to run out of formula that evening.
She had tried every resource she knew was available until someone told her about our nonprofit. Within about 30 minutes of hearing from her, we were able to get her a couple of cans of formula for her baby.
I reflected on that experience all week.
I kept thinking about how I had no idea what it felt like to reach the bottom of a can of formula and not know how I was going to feed my child.
As a parent, I simply couldn’t fathom the fear and hopelessness of not knowing how I was going to provide my child’s next meal.
Then I began thinking about all the problems I complain about.
My Wi-Fi is slow, and my favorite show keeps buffering.
The line at Starbucks is taking too long.
The electric bill is a little higher than I expected.
The price of gas has gone up again.
The remote start on my truck didn’t work, so it wasn’t already cool when I got into it in the 100-degree heat.
Hmm…
The problems I have been complaining about don’t seem quite as big anymore.
How many of us are guilty of treating our inconveniences like emergencies while people in our own community are wondering how they will feed themselves or their families?
That doesn’t mean our frustrations aren’t real. It simply means we may need to put them into perspective.
My challenge to each of us is to begin looking more closely at our so-called problems.
Are they truly problems, or are they simply inconveniences?
If you are like me, you may discover that many of them are just inconveniences.
Perspective does not erase our problems, but it helps us measure them more accurately.
What problem are you complaining about that someone else would love to have?