I was shopping for books yesterday and was dismayed to see a whole new genre of books with their own stand entitled "tragic life stories." How sad that all these lives are only seen as tragedies.

All lives are made up of joys and sorrows in some shape or form, within the lives of the most ordinary people are extraordinary circumstances, problems to deal with and daily acts of bravery and resilience that rarely are shared. I often think of a lady   I  knew who had arrived  in the UK just after the war, with four young children and a husband returned from the war with such bad injuries that she had to care for them all. She knew no-one and went to work as a cook to look after her family. I met her when she was  older  and she told her story not in a tragic way but looking back over what she considered a full and joyful life

This lady would not have written a tragic life story because that is not how she saw her life, instead she knew herself loved by God and through that was able to serve and love others in ways which brought her joy and contentment.

"I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have  more than enough. I have learnt this secret so that  anywhere at any time I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me."
Phillipians 4 vs 12