A matter of perspective

A friend of mine had a large house with a beautiful garden. One day he invited me to his house and I told him how much I admired his garden filled with fruit trees and flowers. He told me how much hard work it was to plant those tree and how many gardeners he had commissioned to make sure everything is perfect. It had cost him a lot of money, and yet he looked very sad, and somewhat pessimistic.
Then when I went to a mission country and saw the poor conditions in which some people were living, and when I met an elderly man in front of his poor and dirty shack, he appeared very happy to show me around. He proceeded to tell me “do you see this house? I lived in it with my family without a roof for 7 years. Now I finally got enough money to add a simple roof!”
Sincere joy does not depend on how much money you have, but by how much you can appreciate life, especially the simple things in life.