home is where the heart is

written by Shannon Maupin

Look for the Good

When our kids were babies, we loaded them up and moved to Mexico City to work with a church. We moved into a brand-new house that had a few quirks, like our kitchen not having any cabinets. The small U-shaped kitchen had a little refrigerator on one side, a professional grade stove in the middle, and a big sink across from the refrigerator. The window above the sink looked out about three feet to a tall, gray, concrete wall. We lived with another family of four and a college intern, so nine of us shared that little kitchen… which meant a LOT of dishes.

I had read a book when Rob and I first got married that said to use Joy dish detergent for hand washing dishes, to remind you to have joy while scrubbing. I couldn’t find Joy in Mexico, so I bought a generic brand of yellow soap, poured it in a yellow olive oil dispenser, and pretended it was Joy. I really did try to have joy while washing dishes three times a day looking out at that cement wall, but I kind of felt like I was in prison. The soap might as well have been gray too, because my attitude turned anything but joyful. I resented anyone who left a dish in the sink, poured a cup of coffee or even looked like they might want a snack. My hands started peeling from the sudsy water, so I had to wear gloves like a housewife from a 1950’s TV show. I stood at that sink multiple times every day, looked out at that wall and felt the irritation boiling up inside of me. 

One day, Rachel, our dear friend whom we lived with, said, “what if we string twine across the window and clip pictures to it, so we have something fun to look at while we do dishes?” So simple. So brilliant! We printed off black and white pictures of our four kids, our family in the States, and covered the window with joyful images. We placed a picture frame that held Psalm 121 on the windowsill.

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

My view changed, and my attitude started to transform with it. Instead of seeing a prison wall while I scrubbed peanut butter and jelly off little plastic plates, I saw my favorite faces. Instead of burning with bitterness that we didn’t have a dishwasher, or that someone had left their dishes in the sink, I thanked God that we were able to buy food for our kiddos, that we even had these precious children, and that I had a godly husband and precious friends who were willing to leave their house and life in the States and move to Mexico with us to share Jesus with people. In the fall, my mother-in-law sent us fake fall leaves from a craft store, and we hung them up with the pictures to create fall outside our little kitchen window. As my view changed, my heart changed as well. 

A couple of years ago, I heard my friend, Jud Wilhite, speak to a bunch of senior pastors. He talked about looking for the good. He said it better. He said:

“What you look for is what you find. You tend to find what you’re looking for.”

So true! When I first looked out that little window in Mexico, I saw a cold, gray prison wall, but when I changed my perspective, I saw all the things I had to be thankful for. 

God tells us in Isaiah 

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

God is always moving, always doing something new. He is moving in the world and in our lives. We just have to look for it. 

I like to decorate by placing eyeglasses around our house now to remind myself to look for the good. My sweet friend, Amy, l gave me a little banner last year that says, “See the Good.” I need that constant reminder, because my brain tends to look for the bad. It tells me things like, “you’re so ugly, you're so fat, you’re so old, you’re so annoying,” but those are lies from the pit of hell. 

God says, “You are radiant.”

“Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Psalm 34:5

God says, “You are chosen.”

“For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,”

God says, “You are my beloved.”

“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”

If we mentally put on glasses to “look for the good,” we can make a cognitive switch and see the good all around us. What could you be thankful for today? Instead of thinking someone is talking bad about you, how could you look for the good? Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, how could you focus on what you DO have? Instead of seeing all the things you want to change when you look in the mirror, how could focus on the things you like about yourself?

Look for the good all around you.

Look for the good right in front of you.

See! God is doing something new!