The perspective of loss

Well it has come to pass that I have lost my main work computer. I have lost just over 10 years of notes, posts and quite a bit more. Yes this occurred a while ago but I have just come to the place where I could talk about it from the perspective of distance.

At first all I could see is what I lost. All the work, all the information, all the effort stored on that device I had spent all those years in front of. Now I expect most of you are asking why did you not have a back up drive? Well the secretary did. I never like how it worked or how you regained the information. So as a result I never obtained one myself. I did buy one for my wife. But alas I never purchased one for myself. No excuses just the truth. So I indeed lost everything on the hard drive. Yes I did remove it and attempt a retrieval.

The result I have come to see is that yes I lost two books I was writing, to the relief of the very few who would have actually had to read them. Yes I lost 10 years of notes on counseling. I lost 10 years of everything I did on that computer. At first I was very frustrated but after having some time to think I am not frustrated anymore.

To be honest if I was going to finish either book I would have by now, so no loss there. The counseling notes I no longer have to worry about someone reading or obtaining. The papers and posts I wrote are either on the web or I didn't feel were worth posting. The sermons I wrote are either preached or again not worth preaching. So from the perspective of time I actually lost very little. Yes I will have to replace a number of materials that were valuable but that might make me do a better job even in those areas.

My point is simple not every loss is truly a loss. Yes we feel the hit of the moment, yes we feel the sting of the impact but in time we might gain a perspective that permits us to see more clearly and we might see that we have gained something as well.

Open eyes see much more than eyes closed from shock. While time does not heal all wounds it does upon occasion provide perspective.

Blessings!