Count Your Blessings!

Today I find myself in awe of everything around me. G-d is everywhere! He’s in the wind and the snow, the rocks and the water, the blue of the sky and the white mist of the clouds. He’s in the smile I received from neighbors as I drove up the road. He’s in the affection and love my husband shows me every day. Even now, as I sit here, Indian Style, with my laptop in front of me, I see him in the little bundle of orange fur (affectionately known as Taffy) that is showing her contentment by purring as loud as she can and looking up at me with her “cat smile”. And all I can think is I am so blessed! I have spoken of faith in G-d and of His never ending unconditional love but now I want to talk about all these blessings that He has poured down on us.

Life is so crazy sometimes. I, myself, have begun trying to find a way to add more hours to the day. Between work, family, Shul, friends, extracurricular activities, and a blog that is taking off in a way that J and I never even imagined, I feel like I am going nonstop. I think I can safely assume many of you feel the same way. Now, putting aside all the demands of life, you throw in the worries, trials, and unexpected situations. That is an over flowing cup right there! Now do something for me, stop reading for a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath and look at everything you have going on (without getting worked up or overwhelmed preferably) and then instead of thinking about how much you have to do, think about how much you have been blessed with. When life kicks into over drive, I see so much is over looked because all we can think is “Go! Go! Go! Go!” The job that you are trying to keep up with, consider how many people are struggling because they don’t have one...BLESSING! The running your doing to get your kids to school and dance class on time, consider what an incredible part of your life they are and how it wouldn’t be the same without them....BLESSING! Having to run home and let the dog out or clean out the litter box every day, hasn’t that pet given you so much love and warmth by being in your life...BLESSING! The house you live in isn’t the dream house you saw yourself in or you could use more space, consider how many people have lost their homes and consider how many of those people couldn’t find a new roof to keep over their heads....BLESSING! Must I go on?

The inspiration to write this blog came from a talk J and I were having this morning and you were all the subject of it. Do you all realize that you are incredible blessings to us? It’s a daily thing now for us to sit down together and go through the blog. It’s exciting to open it and see more followers as well as read the comments that people leave. As I said, we never expected it to take off the way it has in such a short amount of time. But none of that would have been possible if it weren’t for all of you. We have written all the words that are posted so far but if not for people taking the time to read and open your hearts to all of this as well as pass it on, it would only be J and I sitting and talking to each other. So this morning as we sat reading and talking; it became so obvious to me the way we are being blessed. And it goes further than the blog; in life in general.

In these difficult economic times, it’s easy to get caught up in the “Why G-ds” and the “What ifs”. It’s so easy to get caught up in the frustrations and worries and forget about the good things you have. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to down play that people are suffering. There is so much to be done to help the US pull itself back together. But in all the chaos, try and remember what you still have. We have some friends who have traveled to Haiti to help in the relief effort (one of whom is going to write a blog about it and allow us to post it on here). And things are so horrible there. People have literally watched their lives crumble around them. And while J and I are facing our own struggles at the moment, it almost makes them seem insignificant to me when I am told about the way things are there. And for some of the families out there, I am willing to bet that while things are horrible, you will find some parents saying they are thankful to still be alive and with their children. Like everything in life, this is a struggle, a trial. But G-d is still present and G-d is still passing out His blessings.

What I am ultimately trying to say is life definitely comes with its low points. And none of this is a question of who is worse off than whom. That is neither here nor there right now. When you are having a sleepless night due to worries about money or work or family or what-have-you, at least try and take a moment to consider what you do still have and be thankful for it. Happiness is not found in the material things in life. It’s found in contentment in the here and now. Improving yourself and striving for more is fantastic and I encourage it. But when that is the only way you define yourself, when will you ever be truly happy because what you have will never be enough. Think about it and have a wonderful day.

G-d Bless.

K