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"What do you see?" not "Who do you see?"

Fr Alvan Ibeh
Parish Priest, St Peter the Apostle RC Church, Gorleston

I was called out recently to visit a patient who has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. When I got to the ward she was in, I was expecting to see someone in tears having received such devastating news, as it was completely unexpected. She has been feeling well, just that she passed out on that day and was rushed to the hospital. After the scans, the news came that she had a tumour in the brain. As I walked through the door, I saw someone on the bed, looking so well and full of smiles. My first impression was that she may be a sister to the person I have come to see. Perhaps the person I came to see has been taken for a procedure or something else. But I was wrong. It was the person who asked to see a chaplain. It was the patient. She had her daughter and sister with her.   I introduced myself as the chaplain, and she immediately extended her hand for me to shake. I sat close to her while holding her left hand and with her right hand, she brought out her cross and held it tightly. Though this news was a hard one to accept, she kept making everyone laugh and kept telling her daughter who was the one crying, “Don’t worry baby, I will be here to take care of you”. Throughout my stay with them, I never heard her question why God should allow such things to happen to her. She kept looking at the positive side of whatever was happening. “Maybe God is trying to teach me something”, she kept saying
 
As I sat there holding her hand and reflecting on how positive she was in the face of what was happening to her, and asking myself, “What would you do if this were you?”, a story came to my mind. It was the story of a teacher who came to class and wanted to teach his students an important lesson about life, just drew a dot at the centre of the whiteboard. He told the students to take 5 minutes, to reflect and write down what they have seen on the board. In the end, going through what they had written down, he saw that the majority of the students focused on the small dot at the centre of the board. It was just a few who acknowledged that though there is a black dot at the centre of the board, the rest of the board is still white. He then taught the lesson of the need to the positive sides of life and not focus on the negatives which are often like the small black dot
 
Life with its twists and turns, often brings us face to face with trials, uncertainties, and pains. In such moments, it’s easy to be consumed by negativity, fear, and despair. Yet, the Bible invites us to adopt a different lens- one of faith, hope, and trust in God’s providence. Choosing to look at the positive side of life is not a denial of difficulties (we can’t deny the fact that the dot does not exist at the centre of the whiteboard) but a declaration that God is greater than our troubles. When we see that in the bigger picture, God has a bigger plan for us, no matter what we are going through, it helps us to focus more on the positive, rather than the negative. I can testify that this has helped me in dealing with situations whenever they arise
 
Looking at the positive side of life doesn’t mean we ignore pain, but that we acknowledge God’s presence in it. The Bible is filled with people who, in the face of darkness, chose light, for example, Joseph, in Genesis 37- 50, David, in Psalm 42:11, Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25-26, and Jesus in Hebrews 12:2. They saw the possibility in the impossible and beauty in brokenness
 
Looking at the positive side of life is an act of faith- choosing to trust that God is working all things for good (Romans 8:28). As we follow the examples of Joseph, David, Paul, and Jesus, may we, too, develop eyes that see the good even amid the storm, and hearts that believe the best is yet to come. Stay positive always