Taking Stock

I often wonder why it takes witnessing someone else's misfortune in order for me to appreciate the bounteous blessings in my own life?

Brian and I were eating lunch together in a fast food restaurant and I was participating in one of my favorite pastimes, people watching. You learn so much about human interaction from observing how they are in a public setting. There was a woman a couple of booths over from us conversing with a restaurant worker. From their conversation I gathered that she works at this particular restaurant and has a second job. She was visiting the restaurant in order to spend an hour with her children before going to work at her second job while a friend watched her children. My heart was heavy with empathy for the plight of this woman I don't know. 

With this empathy came a second emotion, gratitude. Gratitude for the abundance of gifts I have been blessed with by Heavenly Father. He placed me with loving parents who chose to give me the best life they knew how. If was instilled in me at an early age that education is one of the most valuable commodities available to me. I had the support necessary to forge through getting a bachelors degree despite being temporarily derailed by my own decisions. I have a husband who loves me and has stood by my side even when it was not always the most pleasant place to stand. I have been able to comfortably support my family through downturns in the economy causing unemployment for my husband. I have two amazing children that are bright, driven, loving, compassionate and make good choices. What more could anyone ask for?

So I ask myself again... Why does it take witnessing someone else's plight for me to appreciate my own life's bounty? I'm am human, that's all I can come up with. All I can do to remedy my own lack of humble graciousness is to resolve to do better and move on looking upward with a prayer of thanks on my tongue.