The wise man received a letter from a woman who wrote about her feelings of despair and hopelessness regarding her cursed life.
He responded with this: In our world, everything is composed of both good and bad, and we must choose which aspects to emphasize, contemplate, and pursue.
You can choose to see the good or to see the opposite. Whether you will live a life of satisfaction depends largely on your will to do so, to focus on the positive or the negative.
Are your prayers to the almighty, tales of woe, or prayers of gratitude?
Do you complain and stress about what others need to change?
Do you see your loved ones as factors you can control?
Let go.
Many months later, the woman wrote back. The spirit of her second letter was the direct opposite of the first.
“Dear Wise One, I thank God for moving me to write to you about the problems I was having when I wrote you last. My circumstances did not change, but I did.
I let go and let God do His holy work as needed with my husband, my mother, and my children.
I stopped praying for my family members to do better, to make changes, and to be better.
Instead, I thanked God constantly that I have a husband, that I have children, that I still have my mother to care for.
I am no longer obsessed with perfection, or even comfort. I am “obsessed” with God’s beautiful creation and express the joy I feel with every breath I take.”
One can always change oneself, but rarely can one change another. Thank God for the revelation, and the revelation will surely come.