“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” –Albert Einstein
A few months ago I met a women in her mid 50's living in an assisted living care facility. While talking with her, I learned she had a very severe and rare case of osteoporosis. Her condition was so severe that she could no longer walk because doctors feared that the stress of walking would break the bones in her legs. She then went on to tell me that she also had Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease effecting the central nervous system in which the body's own immune system attacks it's nerves. Because of her multiple health conditions, her husband left her.
After hearing her story, I immediately began to tell her I was sorry. She stopped me, and then started to laugh! In my mind I started to think that she must be crazy too, after all I probably would be if all I could do was sit in bed. She could see my astonishment at her laughing, and she then got very serious and said, "Yes. I have a hard life. But so does everyone else. What makes me different is that every morning when I wake up, it's a miracle. I don't know if when I open my eyes I'll be able to see. I don't know if I'll be able move or if I'll be paralyzed. It's a new surprise everyday!" I was amazed. This women, who had been in bed for nearly 5 years, saw everyday as a miracle. I asked what her secret was, she pulled out a bad of chocolate covered raisins from under her pillow and winked at me.
What impressed me that day was not the fact that this women had been through so many hardships, because like she said, we all have hard lives. What impressed is that she could still smile and laugh, and be an example to someone even though she just lay in a bed surrounded by curtains, unable to move. When I left her room that day, I realized that everyone is given lemons, lots of them. But it's what we do with them, it's the lemonade we make out of them, that truly define us.
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