blessing

(trying out this blog-update-through-email thing...hopefully it works, would be nice to do from my phone when I'm miles away from a computer connection!)

Why are we so bad at recognizing how blessed we are? Even if we simply realized every moment how things that used to plague us don't plague us anymore, we would be freaking out at how great life is! From little to big…every moment there is something to rejoice over.

The other morning I woke up and was sitting under my mosquito net praying, and I remembered how it used to be in the last house we stayed in--every night, a dozen mosquitoes would be resting on the outside of my net. Sometimes it sounded like there was a small plane in my bathroom from all them buzzing around in there; I couldn't open my closet door without 3 flying out as they rested in the warmth; the time it took to dress in the morning was doubled because half my time was spent battling them. Now I see one maybe once a week…how great is that?!?

But I totally forgot.

Remember having an earache, a headache, nausea, congestion where you can't breathe out of your nose -- constantly distracting and you can't wait until it goes away. Then the first moment you realize it's not there anymore, you're so joyful! But of course we'll forget again what a blessing it is to breathe freely, eat freely. I mechanically put my contacts on in the morning, forgetting what a miracle it is that I can see.

The night before that I wasn't feeling too hot -- back pain, finger injury and toothache. But then I thought about it -- a small section of my back, one knuckle, and a centimeter of my mouth -- what is that, 99.9% of every part and function of my body inside and outside?? Talk about glass-half-empty…that's a freakin' overflowing goblet and I'm saying it's undrinkable, laying on the ground in (relative) pain feeling sorry for myself.

I wish I could look at actual statistics for these, but unfortunately I'm not in the Land of Perpetual Internet
But looking at basics only:

I was born -- in America alone, 4,000 lives per day aren't given this chance
I have my freedom -- millions are slaves
I have parents -- millions don't [Not to mention parents that love me]
I have food -- millions don't [Not to mention as much food as I want]
I have water -- millions don't
I have a home -- millions don't
I have an education -- millions of children yearn for the chance
I can see [Not to mention the resources to fix it if something's wrong]
I can hear
I can walk

If you're discontent--*who are you comparing yourself to?*

What do you think about to fight your own selfishness?