As a Christian minister, it has been my opportunity to minister to many people when they were ill. I have noticed that those who lack a spiritual perspective on life are often totally defeated and throw up their hands. And that those who have a spiritual perspective on life view illness as a teacher and as an opportunity to make profound changes in their attitudes and actions.
Marsha Sinetar, in To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love, tells the story of a fabulously wealthy king who had a son whom he totally adored. The boy was bright and handsome – perfect in every way – except one: he had a severely hunched back.
This saddened the king very much. So he proclaimed that a huge reward would go to the person who figured out how to heal the boy’s back. Many months passed without a solution. Wise men and women with what they believed to be good ideas traveled to the palace from all over the region. But no one knew what to do. No one came up with a satisfactory solution.
Then one day, a famous teacher happened into the kingdom and heard about the problem. “I don’t want your reward,” she said, “but I do have your answer.”
This was her advice: “In the center of your courtyard, you must construct a sculpture – an exact replica of your dear son, with one exception: Its’ back must be straight and lovely in appearance. That is all. Trust God for the healing.”
With that the famous teacher disappeared and the king’s artisans began their work on the statue. In a short time, a beautiful marble sculpture sat in the center of the courtyard. Every day as the little boy played, he studied the figure admiringly.
He began to feel, “Why, that’s me! That looks exactly like me.” Every day, the prince gazed lovingly at the sculpture until he identified with it.
Bit by bit the boy’s back straightened. One day, a year so later, as the king watched his son frolicking in the gardens, he noticed that the boy’s back had begun to straighten. In time it was totally healed. The young boy’s identification with the marble sculpture had been so complete that he believed it represented him – straight back and all. His body obeyed his belief.
It is obviously just a story, but it is a story pregnant with truth. That on which you focus your primary attention has the power to mould your life. As King Solomon of ancient Israel once said, “As you think within yourself, so you are” (Proverbs 23:7).
The difference between an optimist and a pessimist is perspective. I have known people with something as minor as an ingrown toenail wail and complain vociferously, “How could God allow this to happen to me?” I have also known people with a terminal illness praise God for every blessing they have because they are optimists. As Winston Churchill once explained the difference between the two this way, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Why is having the right perspective in life so important? For one thing, it teaches you that happiness comes not from what you have but from what you are. The mind that is stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions.
There is a tremendous difference between the way optimists and pessimists view life. Optimists count their blessings; pessimists discount theirs. Optimists see their glass as being half full; pessimists see their glass as being half empty. Optimists have no brakes; pessimists have no motor. In other words, if you keep your face toward the sunshine you will never see the shadows.
God has performed miracles in the lives of many people, and He can do it again – in your life! It may not be His will to give you the specific miracle for which you have prayed. He does not always heal every person’s body that has been diagnosed as being terminally ill. But in the world to come He will provide total healing. At that time “there will no longer be any death, or mourning, or crying, or pain . . . for the former things will have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).
That is the ultimate reason why having the right perspective is so important!
The Paper Pulpit 
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