In my last study lesson, I wrote about finding treasures within our own personal pits of pain. Since writing that article, the Lord led me through an interesting bread trail of lessons to help me see my “pit” a little differently. The following Saturday afternoon, I walked next door to my sister’s house to help her with a computer problem and on the way home noticed the gorgeous day. The sky was blue, the weather perfect, and the landscape beckoning. On a whim, I took off into the field in front of our houses. My sister’s family and ours share twenty-four acres of beautiful North Georgia landscape, and it called out to me that afternoon.

I’m ashamed to say that it had probably been ten months since I’d last taken a stroll like this. As I ventured on, the realization struck me that I am not in a pit after all. We have so much abundance, but in my myopic view of things, I’d let one problem in my life become my world. While I’d seen some of my treasures, I’d become totally oblivious to a large portion of my blessings because I’d been focusing so much on one area of lack. I’d in essence chosen to be in a pit, when I could have easily ascended to the light of day anytime I wished. Lesson 1: Abundance is a choice I can make at any time as long as I open my eyes to it.

I strolled back toward the house picking up a pocket-full of scaly bark hickory nuts from those that litter our property. Sitting down on a hay wagon, I began cracking open these hickory nuts with a rock and enjoying the tasty meat within. It became a bit of a game to see if I could hit them just right to retrieve all the meat in the most complete form. I chuckled when I realized that if someone had forced me to perform this labor, it would have felt like a chore. But since it was something I wanted to do, it became a relaxing diversion. Lesson 2: Events just are. Whether we see them as good or bad is primarily in how we look at them. The trick is in finding the good within any task.

A third piece to this bread trail happened over the next week or so when several people confided their serious challenges to me: one suffering from health problems, another an unfaithful spouse, another family rifts, another family members who’ve lost their way. When I compare my problem to theirs, I realize that I prefer my challenge to theirs any day. Lesson 3: Be grateful that you have the trials that are best suited to you.

In this bread trail of insights, the Lord has been trying to teach me the following principles:

• Start noticing all the blessings you have. Focus on the good and the bad will minimize.
• Learn to enjoy the challenges of your life. Make them a game, experiment, learn to work with them. Let them teach you something and find joy in them.
• Focus on serving, praying for and helping others and your own problems will fall into perspective. Other people have it a lot worse than you do. As the old saying goes, “I once thought I had it bad because I had no shoes, until I met a man that had no feet.”

The consolation is that when we put our trust in the Lord, look for the good, and express gratitude for the lessons within our trials, we can find joy and peace even when life is not perfect. Through the perspective the gospel brings, we learn that what Jesus promised is true, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27) As Paul said, may “the peace of God, which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7).