Count Your Many Blessings

Have you ever noticed how blessed we are?  We had a lesson, in seminary, about service, and some things really hit me.  One of the statistics my teacher read was this, “If you have money in your pocket, money in the bank, and money, even change, sitting somewhere around your house, you’re in the top 6% of the richest people in the world.”  It makes you really step back and think about how great our lives are.  We live in such an affluent community, and we often don’t remember those who have it off so much worse than us.

Can you even comprehend how bad some people have it?  I don’t think that our worst nightmares are as bad as some of the things that go on.  Imagine this: you have to watch for snipers as you walk to school, you don’t know if your house will still be there, when you get home, or even if your family will all make it through the day.  This seems kind of ridiculous, but it is a reality to many people.  There are many other examples of difficulties people face.  Some examples of these are: disease, death, prejudices, and not having enough money to even cover basics, such as water, food, and shelter.  

It is amazing to live in this wonderful country.  We are free to act as we choose, able to worship as we please, and go where we want.  There are so many people who can’t do this.  They don’t know what it’s like to be able to do things like this, and yet, we often take these things for granted.  We don’t notice that we’re using electricity or we’re drinking safe, clean drinking water from a tap, inside our house.  I love America, for all it stands for and for all the things we have.  I believe that there are many who don’t show gratitude for these things. It’s probably a big reason that other countries dislike Americans.

We’re also able to go to school.  I want to yell at people who complain about how awful school is.  I mean, it isn’t always very exciting and it does involve work, but it’s much better than most people have.  You get the opportunity to get an education and learn things that will greatly help you later on in life (I was bugging my mom about when I would ever use some of the difficult math formulas, and she replied that she uses things like that all the time).  Looking at charts, that show pay depending on education levels, it’s hard to believe that the amount of pay high school drop-outs receive is still many times higher than people in third-world countries.

So, the next time you feel like complaining about how awful your life is, step back and think about how much worse off you could truly be.  You’ve got an amazing life.  You live in a free country, you get to choose what you want to do and what you want to be, and you don’t have to constantly fear your safety.  All these small things may seem insignificant, but they are great blessings and we need to learn to be thankful for them.

PS- Mr. Thompson- I’m going to be gone next week, and I was unsure whether I would be able to write a blog for next week, so please count this as next week’s blog.  Thanks!

PPS- I just realized that next week is Thanksgiving!  I didn’t even do that on purpose.  I guess I’m just in tune with the seasons….