Life will always have “black dots,” but God fills every day with blessings we often overlook. Gratitude shifts your focus from the problem to His constant faithfulness.
You’re back in school.
You’re sitting in your favorite corner of the classroom, talking with a friend while waiting for class to begin, when the teacher walks in holding a stack of papers.
“Pop quiz,” she announces.
The teacher hands each paper out face down. And when your teacher gives the signal to begin, you flip it over and freeze.
There are no questions. No instructions. Just a single black dot in the center of an otherwise blank sheet.
You look around the room. Everyone else looks just as confused.
Then the teacher says, “Write down what you see.”
So you do. Everyone does.
When everyone is finished, she collects the papers and starts reading them one by one.
Every student, without exception, describes the black dot. They describe its size, placement, darkness, and shape.
When she finishes, the teacher pauses and says something that hits you hard:
“Not one of you wrote about the white part of the paper. You all focused on the black dot. And this is exactly what we tend to do in life.”
We obsess over the problem.
The disappointment.
The setback.
The thing that went wrong.
Meanwhile, the rest of our life (the white space filled with blessings) goes unnoticed.
The answered prayers.
The people who love us.
The opportunities we’ve been given.
The moments of joy that quietly fill our days.
They’re all still there. We just forget to look.
This teacher wasn’t giving an exam. She was giving perspective.
And Scripture gives us the same reminder: “Give thanks in all circumstances.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Not for all circumstances. But in them.
There will always be black dots in our lives.
But there will also always be white space as well: God’s faithfulness woven quietly through every season.
So today, pause and ask yourself:
What am I allowing to take up too much space in my mind?
What blessings have I been overlooking?
What white space have I forgotten to thank God for?
You will always see more of whatever you choose to focus on.
Choose gratitude.
Choose the white space.
Choose to see what God has already given you.
The black dot may be real…but it is never the whole story.
