The Little Things

I've been having a rough week. First of all I have to speak in church next Sunday...so of course I've been nervous about that all week. Second of all I wasn't able to go to California with my family this week. Not that big of a deal...but still bummed. Sometimes I wish I could have stayed a little kid forever. Being a grown up stinks sometimes! Tuesday night a good friend of mine told me he can't be friends with me anymore. I won't go into it, but basically his fiance is jealous of how close of friends he & I used to be. Dumb. I was pretty upset & of course wanted to retaliate...natural reaction right ;) Then, last night I heard a horrible story about someone I care about & a very stupid situation he put himself in. I was sad for him & hurt & disappointed. I am bothered that I used to look up to this person. Anyway, I've spent the morning feeling sorry for myself. But, while I was in the shower this morning I remembered an experience that Jeff & I had when we were flying to Chicago last month. We sat next to an older woman on the plane, who had very little use of her hands. I'm not sure if it was bad arthritis in her hands or what the problem was, but we sat and watched her try to open her bag of peanuts for a minute or so with no success. So, Jeff reached over & ripped the bag down the side so she could get into it. Then we watched some more as she tried to get her fingers into the hole to get to the peanuts. She just couldn't do it. Finally the flight attendant poured her peanuts into a little cup to make it easier for her. I sat there feeling so bad for her. I could tell she felt frustrated & humiliated that she couldn't perform such a small task without help. As I sat there thinking about it, I realized how much I take for granted those small things I've been blessed with. The use of my hands. A healthy body. I made myself a promise that day that I would work on showing more gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the many things He has blessed me with, by the way I live my life. As I was thinking about this experience again, I realized that no matter how much it sucks to lose a friend, or how hard it is to see someone you love making stupid choices, or how much I would have loved to be on vacation this week, I can't let it take my focus off of the things that are truly important. I need to focus on the positive things in my life rather than the negative & I know I will be a happier person overall & it will put me in a place that will help me be a better example to the people around me. If anyone reads this, sorry for my rambling & if it seemed like I was complaining. I don't know if this even makes sense. Sometimes it helps to just get it all out.