BLESSING

Several months ago in my always positive attitude I repeatedly told a friend how blessed they were. One day being fed up with my view of his blessed life he lashed out and said "how the hell do you think I am blessed and if I am so damn blessed you take over and live my life". To say I was caught off guard would be an understatement. What I saw was a man that had his life together. He had a great job, seemed healthy, a lovely family, and a very nice home. On the surface to most people he was blessed.

I learned something very valuable that day. I learned that I was missing my blessings in life by counting his and he did not see what I thought I saw. As his emotions rose he somehow found the courage to speak up. I had no idea that his mother in law was sick and they had spent all their money trying to take care of her. To the point they were facing losing their house. BLESSED YOU SAY!! He didn't stop there either. For years he had lower back problems however he was treating it with painkillers that he became addicted to. This has caused some serious problems inside the family unit that us on the outside could not see. After about ten minutes of this he once again said "and you say I am BLESSED well take your blessing and shove it"

I realized right then that every person truly does have a story. It also became clear that it was not my job to assume that someone else has a blessed life when all I can see is the superficial material side of it anyway. With my curiosity aroused I called a friend that is heavily involved in church and community activities. He is so BLESSED (I think) that his family helps with his work. Anyway I wanted his opinion on how blessed other peoples lives really are. 

He first ask me if I thought his life was blessed. Naturally I said well heck yes I do, I mean you have and do everything, you must be super happy. He said these words I will never forget, "if you see my life as a blessing then why don't you do the things I do". Now that was profound. He was kind enough to share with me the struggles he faces with his commitments and the strains it puts on his time with his family. He also told me that many of things he volunteers for is to keep him occupied because it helps him fight his depression. After about 45 minutes of talking to him I once again realized that his blessing was through my eyes not his. 

Do you ever tell people how blessed they are? Do you think other people are more blessed than you? The big question is where do you think blessings come from? The person that got the much needed promotion, was that a blessing from God or simply his hard work and dedication? You can fill in the blanks here with all the questions you would like. My point to writing this is to wonder why we can see other peoples blessings yet we cannot see our own. 

I am going to conclude this by asking you something. When you look at the life of someone else what do you see that you cannot see when you look at your own life? 

peace to you

Dale