As I sit in my office and gaze out the window at the beautiful cityscape and mountains, I marvel that I get to work in such a fabulous environment. From here everything looks picturesque. I was so enthralled with the scenery earlier today that I ventured out of the building during a brief break between counseling sessions. As I exited the building walked down Salt Lake City’s Main Street to take in what I expected to be wonderful, I was bombarded by hail and wind. “Where did this come from?” I thought to myself. Everything looked so peaceful from my 8th floor window. Isn’t this a lot like life? We often look around at the lives of others and what we see as better than our circumstances – only to be beaten down by hailstones as soon as we venture into their shoes.

I did my best to hurry back when the storm came. I was drenched. But in the end, I was glad to have experienced reality. Life can be hard for most people. If we are willing to walk in the storms for a while, we all might better appreciate the views from our own windows.