Life is how you look at it. On the one hand, there’s always a reason to appreciate what we have. On the other hand, we can always find a reason to complain. When the Jewish people were traveling to the desert after they escaped the slavery of Egypt, God gave them a special miraculous food called manna. The manna came down each day fresh from the sky. It tasted delicious! Even though it was so wonderful, some of the people started to complain. “We miss our life and our food from Egypt,” they said. Even though life was so terrible in Egypt and so much better now, they found a reason to complain! God told Moses to educate the people to look at things differently—to always remember to look for the good in whatever happens.

In our story, two sisters have very different ways of looking at life…

Sunny Side Up

Karen and Gail were twins who looked almost exactly alike. They both had reddish-blond hair, blue eyes and a ton of freckles.

But Karen and Gail were very different.

Whenever you would ask Karen how she was, she’d smile and say, “I’m doing great!” and mean it, too.

Gail would always answer the same question with, “Things could be better.”

When they would walk to school together, Karen would always notice how beautiful the weather was that day. Gail would always be too hot or too cold.

One day the sisters were out for a walk in the woods. They got to a picnic bench and sat down to eat lunch. “Wow, aren’t these sandwiches delicious?” said Karen.

“Actually mine is kind of dry,” said Gail, and she suddenly burst into tears.

“What’s wrong?” asked Karen with a worried voice.

Gail looked up from her tears. “I don’t get it,” she sobbed. “You have such a great life and mine is so awful. I’m miserable.”

Karen looked her sister in the eyes. “Listen, sis,” she said with a sympathetic smile. “You and I have almost the same life, but we live in two different worlds.”

“What do you mean?” sniffled Gail.

“I mean we have the same parents, the same looks, we go to the same school with the same friends. We even eat the same sandwiches, don’t we?” Gail nodded as Karen continued. “But the difference is that I try to see what’s right with everything and you look at what’s wrong. Let’s face it, nobody and nothing is perfect. But everything does have something good about it. You just have to look for it. When you do that, and try not to complain, life becomes just wonderful. You can do it too. Start by telling me about one good thing in your life.”

Gail thought a minute, smiled, and said, “One good thing for sure is that I have a sister like you.”