Some of the most memorable lessons in life come from stories. We are meaning-seeking creatures. Stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. A Native American proverb says, “Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to share the story of “The Black Dot” to illustrate gratitude—being thankful for the things we often take for granted.
One day, a professor entered his classroom and told his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously for the exam to begin. The professor gave out the exams with the text facing down. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers.
To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions—just a black dot in the center of the paper. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them: “I want you to write about what you see there.” The students were confused but got started on the inexplicable task.
At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams and started reading each one of them out loud in front of all the students. All of them, without exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all the exams had been read, the classroom was silent.
The professor said:
“I’m not going to grade you on this. I just want to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot. The same happens in our lives. We insist on focusing only on the black dot—health issues that bother us, lack of money, complicated relationships with a family member, disappointment with a friend. The dark spots are very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your eyes away from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each of your blessings, each moment life gives you.”
What a difference having an attitude of gratitude makes in living a life filled with love! Quit telling God what you don’t have and start using what you do have.
It’s not what you look at that matters—it’s what you see. There is awesome power in how you see the world. You are beautifully special and unique, that additive ingredient to the mixture of life and reality that creates magic. As Anaïs Nin tells us: “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
Another story: A young lady who loved flowers planted a rare vine at the base of a stone wall. It grew vigorously, but it did not bloom. Day after day she talked to it, watered it, and tried in every way to coax it to bloom.
One morning, as she stood disappointedly before it, her invalid neighbor, whose backyard adjoined hers, called out and said, “You can’t imagine how much I have been enjoying the blooms of the vine you planted!”
The young lady looked, and on the other side of the wall saw a mass of blooms. The vine had crept through the crevices in the wall and flowered beautifully on the other side.
Thought: So often we think our efforts are wasted because we do not see their fruits. We need to remember that in God’s service our prayers, our toil, and our crosses are never in vain. Somewhere they bear fruit, and hearts will receive blessings and joy.
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