Surprise!

Have you been surprised lately?

A woman called her pastor. "We just won $10 million in the lottery!" she exclaimed. "But I'm afraid to tell my husband. He has a weak heart and I'm afraid he may have a heart attack. Pastor, would you be able to tell him for me?"

The clergyman thought that perhaps he could, so he came right over and sat down with the man. "What would you do," he began, "if you were to win $500,000 in the lottery?"

"I suppose my wife could quit her job and I could work less and relax more," the man reflected.

"What would you do if you were to win a million dollars?" the pastor continued.

"If I were to win that much we could both retire," the man said. "Life would be easy."

The clergyman forged on. "Well, what would you do if you were to win five million dollars?"

"We could do anything we wanted," he mused. "We could travel, live anywhere in the world and enjoy a life we never dreamed was possible."

Finally he got to it. "Now tell me...what would you do if you won ten million dollars in the lottery?"

"Ten million dollars? Why, if I ever won that much, Pastor, I know one thing for sure. I'd give half of it to you and the church."

You guessed it. The pastor had a heart attack.

I don't know if a gift of massive wealth will turn out as wonderful as one might think, but it's probably a good thing that most surprises don't come in such huge helpings. I think I prefer my surprises to come in smaller, bite-sized portions. Even the good ones. And I'm discovering that the world is full of daily, happy surprises, if I just have eyes to see.

Have you noticed that we will tend to see what we look for and miss most of the rest? I once observed a class instructor hold up a large sheet of white paper. It seemed to be clean except for a black dot in the center made by a heavy marker. He asked us to tell him what we saw. Everyone who raised their hand predictably pointed out the black mark, each describing it differently. Then the teacher asked, “Why didn't anyone say they saw a sheet of white paper?”

Was that answer too obvious? Maybe so, but I often miss the obvious because I'm busy looking for something else. I might be surprised at what I can see if I were to actually look for it.

If I search for mistakes in myself or others, I will find enough to keep me critical for a week. Likewise, if I look every day for what is admirable in others, what is pure in myself and what is lovely in the world, all of these things suddenly become obvious. But the large sheet of white paper is easy to miss when I am searching for black smudges.

Confucius taught, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” And baseball great Yogi Berra added, “You can observe a lot by watching.” It's about what I'm going to look for, and that's enough of a surprise for me.

– Steve Goodier

Image: freeimages.com/grietgriet

Finding the Good News

A few years ago I read of a Ukraine businessman who bought a pager for each member of his staff as a New Year’s gift. As he was returning from the pager shop, all 50 beepers on the back seat of his automobile simultaneously burst out screeching. He was so alarmed that he drove his car into a lamp post, just 100 meters from his office.

After he assessed the damage to the car, the businessman turned his attention to the message on the 50 pagers. It read: “Congratulations on a successful purchase!” (Reuters, Jan. 14, 1999)

That got his attention. Unfortunately, it’s the bad news – newspaper headlines and world events – that generally clamor the loudest to get noticed.

And there is enough bad news all around. I came across an article that reported a study of a large group of people who were instructed to evaluate all the information they received for a year and a half. They were asked to record whether what they were seeing and hearing all day long was positive or negative. These researchers determined that ninety percent of the input the group received was negative – bad news.

That may not come as a surprise to everyone. Over a half-century ago, Franklin Roosevelt told about an old man who was losing his hearing and went to the doctor for help. He was advised to quit drinking alcohol. When his family asked him what he was going to do, he replied, “Well, I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ve decided I like what I’ve been drinkin’ so much better than what I’ve been hearin’, I’m just gonna keep on gettin’ deaf.”

But there is still good news aplenty. We can still hear encouraging words from friends. Any day we can witness numerous acts of generosity and kindness. And we can still spot signs all around us of love and hope. Sometimes we may have to look a little more closely, but the good news is there.

Are you finding it? It’s worth the effort.

-- Steve Goodier


Image: flickr.com/David Schroeder, image adapted