and that was good

i read a fable once that went along the lines of a king's son who was out riding his horse one day and fell off and broke his leg (which was bad) but it saved him going off to war (which was good).

and it got me to wondering about how we categorize life events.

recently, for example, a friend told me how her grandparents met.  similar to the king's son, her grandfather got pneumonia (which was bad) but when his platoon went to vietnam, they were all instantly killed (which was bad) and her grandfather was the only one still alive (which was good) and went on to meet the love of his life (which was very, very good).  

this is why i say thank you for the things that, at first glance, don't seem so full of thanksgiving.

i'm really into sending mail and letters.

i wanted a friend to feel celebrated until we could get together in person, so i sent her gift in the mail.  but at the time it would have arrived, someone stole the post office master key, broke into their communal mail, and stole all the mail which included her package (which was bad).

then i got to thinking about the thief.  imagining them and their situation.  were they down on their luck hoping for money in the mail?  what if, when they got to the book of poetry i had selected for my friend, they opened it, sat down, read it (it was a particularly beautiful collection by a local author) and had a change of heart that we will never know about (that would be good).

and so i think about them in this way, enjoying the book of poetry that maybe was meant for them all along.

give thanks in all circumstances takes an imaginative turn.

have any stories that at first seemed to be bad that turned out better than expected?  or that you would enjoy applying your creative imagination toward?