A place to sleep

Some time ago, I walked into a new house here in Alva. It's a large house, definitely on the upscale end. I complimented the owner, as I knew the house had been custom built for his family. The owner told me how he designed the whole thing, but the builder had measured the foundation wrong. It was a few inches shorter than designed, so the whole plan had to be cut down. As he continued reciting the list of problems, it was obvious that he was actually rather bitter and irritated that it wasn't the way he planned. Ultimately, he put the house up for sale.

I could put any number of morals to this: details matter, you don't always get what you want, or the importance of monitoring when you delegate to others.

But I'm going to tell you another story. Last week, I got to say hello to an online friend, Mark Horvath. He produces a podcast called InvisiblePeople.tv. He taught me that being homeless means people treat you like you're invisible. He once shared the story of a young mother living out of her van with her children. Then the van broke down. She had been writing a series of essays about her experiences from the driver's seat. So she started selling  the collection of essays on Amazon to raise money to pay for van repairs. What moral might she draw from her own story?

Here are the words that came to me this morning:
It is less important to get exactly what you want, than to be grateful for exactly what you have.