Now it’s supper time and his mama calls
Little boy starts home with his bat and ball
Says I am the greatest that is a fact
But even I didn’t know I could pitch like that.
“The Greatest” – Kenny Rogers

If you have not heard this song by Kenny Rogers, take a moment to do so. In the song, a young boy, proclaiming himself the greatest hitter of all, tosses a ball into the air and attempts to hit it. With each swing and a miss, he tells himself he is the greatest and tries again. As the lyrics above show, after his third strike, does he get dejected or upset? No, in fact he reiterates his belief in his abilities but then something does change…his perception. Instead of looking at his failure as a hitter, he looks at his success as a pitcher.

An old deacon friend of mine (God rest your soul, Deacon Harold) was great at this. As a rookie funeral director, he reveled in my frustration when I would ask him to do a funeral. For you see, he said he could not because he never attended a funeral. As I stood there exasperated and ready to express my bewilderment at that statement, he would go on to say “but I have attended many a graduation.”

Did this change the fact that someone had died? No, but it did change how that moment could be seen, and with THAT reality, it became possible to celebrate a life lived instead of mourning a loss. Sometimes we are a great hitter. Sometimes we are an even better pitcher. My challenge to you is to take a moment in your life that seems a challenge and try to look at it from a different perspective. You just may find that it can change how you feel about the reality and in turn, help you to live, laugh and love with the courage and joy you deserve.