Does this TV Swivel?

We have an Airbnb property and I recently installed two TVs in two of the bedrooms.  Shortly after installing them, the question came in from a guest in the app, “Does this TV swivel?”  

I was a little taken by surprise because we had just installed a brand new TV in that bedroom—a bedroom where no TV had existed a week earlier.  

But our guest didn’t have this information, she simply compared that TV to the other TVs she knew. And the TVs she knew swiveled. The TV I mounted did not.

Her comparison was to the perfect TV situation instead of her current TV situation which, had she stayed a week earlier, would’ve included no TV.  

I love the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. But that movie stings. George Bailey and I share a last name. But we share much more than that. I can easily tip over into contempt for the problems of my life and create a mental picture of the whelming flood of troubles.

At the end of the movie, George learned to compare his current life to no life at all. No Mary, no friends, no kids, no Bedford Falls, no broken banister.

NO. ZUZU’S. PETALS.

The distance between having and not having looks equidistant from having and having the perfect. But the distance is not equal and it’s an important distinction. The distance on the left is way farther than the distance between having and having the perfect. The distance between zero and one is actually much farther than the distance between one and a thousand.

Not this….

But this….

What about your life today? I Thessalonians 5 makes the bold imperative that we should do three things, “rejoice always pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.”  

George didn’t, but learned to. I don’t, but I’m learning to.  

And the Airbnb lady was actually an incredible guest and left a great review for us.  The TV doesn’t swivel, but it was just fine.