On Life 36 – Black Spots – July 25, 2014

   As the child walked into the room, he found his father drawing some black spots on a white sheet of paper. The sheet looked beautiful, but the black spots made it ugly. “Why did you do so, dad?” asked the child. The father smiled and answered, “Truly they are black, and changed the lovely piece of paper; but be patient that you might know what this means.” The child was curious. After the father had finished the black spots, he joined them with some lines. Then, he brought his violin and started playing while looking at the black spots, only for the boy to listen to lovely tune that made him soar in heaven.

   No sooner had the father finished his tune, than he looked at his son, saying, “Have you understood now the meaning of the black spots?” The child answered, “Yes. How beautiful they are!” The father said, “This is how our life is like: Look at what others find black spots and smile. Play tunes: for God allows tribulations which we think are bad, yet they are the best.”

   It is said, “Beauty is not an attribute of a certain thing, but of the mind that contemplates it.” The beauty you see in the things around you is but a reflection of yourself and heart that have beauty and simplicity. On the other hand, the person who finds everything ugly has to look into his heart to know the reason of this ugliness.

   Train yourself to have a mind that sees beauty in all your surroundings. While others find them black spots, contemplate them well to find they are the secret of beauty. I liked an exercise which a university professor assigned his students, asking them to jot down the names of three colleagues, and inside each name the good attributes. After finishing, he collected the notes and read them, then asked them what they felt upon taking up the task. They answered, saying they found it difficult at first, and did not find what to write. Yet, thinking for a while, they were able to find some good attributes, only to end up finding the great ones.

   Think positive, and never make your mind stop at the black spots, but transcend them to their great meaning.

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center