Count Your Blessings

So much news seems meant to scare me: GPS will fail in a year, our environment will soon be uninhabitable, our children will carry an impossible tax burden, there is no sign that the recession is improving, the publishing industry is failing, children are becoming addicted to computer games, and so on and so on.

In this state of affairs, what have we got going for us?

On Sunday, my husband’s father celebrated his 80th birthday! A man who has suffered incredible heart issues, is now strong and chipper, and doesn’t look a day over 65. His backyard birthday party included many of his favorite people – close friends, neighbors, his wife, his brother and his wife, most of his kids and their spouses, and four grandchildren. Dad just beamed – all day! And, talked – all day! This is a man who grew up during the Great Depression – a time of little hope. Then, he lived through World War II, several gas crises, nuclear scares and radical changes in manufacturing. Yet, he has endured and his life is good!

We all need to take stock of what we’ve been given. The human race survived without GPS! The human race survived a small ice age in the Middle Ages. After World War II, cities and countries needed rebuilding and people got it done!

Planted inside each of us are seeds of ideas – tangible ways to help other people, inventions to simplify tasks, methods to maintain and improve our environment. If we can all just give thanks for what we’ve got, we’ll realize that we have so much more to share! We live in a small world, now, and Americans can use their position of leadership for such good! We need to endure and do good.

We are so blessed. God bless America.