God BLESS You!

A while back, I was waiting for the bus one night, 20 feet from a man with a megaphone yelling, "God BLESS you, God BLESS you, GOD BLESS YOU...," you get the idea. He threw in a few "receive the Holy Ghosts" and other assorted phrases too. At one point, a man yelled out the window of a passing car, "Get a job!" God bless you man turned and walked towards him, pointed his megaphone at the man's head through the open window and said, "Get a job?! This IS my job. To tell people: GOD BLESS YOU!"

How I wish I could have megaphone man around all the time, or at least be reminded more often of God's existence, His love for EACH of us, and how much He really does bless us! So what the heck, 'tis still the thankfulness season; here are a few more things I am grateful for. A little recognition of how much God blesses me:

• The chipper metro train drivers that so happily advise me to watch my step as the doors are closing and make me aware that at Metro Center, the doors will open on the right.
• The pizza my office bought yesterday for a staff meeting=free lunch!
• The extended family that lives 2.3 miles from me, allowing me a safe, warm place to go when I feel alone in big, scary DC
• The neighbors which live two doors down from me who decided 15 minutes before I walked by one night that they were giving away their entire living room set of furniture=free couches!!
• Kids
• The kitten my Grandma got recently (I swear she's drugged up on some type of illegal substance but she's fun to watch!)
• SNOW!
• Christmas lights
• My really stupid fish
• Friends who know just what to say and just when to call
• Chocolate-covered bacon
• Really good books (like The Book of Mormon-check it out!)

I could go on and on...so what are you grateful for? How has God blessed you?

Being Thankful

This video reminded me that there are so many, many things to be thankful for. Big and small! I feel I do fairly well remembering to thank God for what I have and I'm generally a pretty hopeful, optimistic person. But I'll admit: it can be awfully tough to continuously remain upbeat, positive, hopeful and even GRATEFUL when you feel you are lacking things you would like very much and even things you really kinda need. This time of year is especially difficult, when everyone is specifically vocal about their respective blessings which usually include fabulous significant others and/or wonderful jobs (uh, nope and...nope!).

However, as a wise Dad (yep, mine!) once said, we must first learn to be more grateful for what we do have, at which point, our Heavenly Father will recognize our appreciation and will be more willing to open the windows of Heaven to bless us even more. I have learned from experience that I am happier focusing on the many wonderful things I DO have versus the things I don't.

Above all, I have been learning recently to be more thankful for MY life, that I am the person I am, and for the experiences I have which seem to be tailor-made to help ME improve. And THAT is something everyone can be thankful for!

The Infamous Day

June 8th, 2011 will not go down as my best 24 hours. I was told at work that I would no longer have a job as soon as a replacement was found who was willing to stay longer than I wanted to, I found a relationship with a good friend going sour seemingly beyond my control, and then, driving 12 mph on the beltway as it had transformed into its preferred 5pm parking lot status, taking one hand off the wheel, apparently subconsciously under the impression I could handle 12 mph on a jam-packed highway even if 100% of my attention was not on the road, I was pulled over.

After refuting the police officer's claim that I had a mug in one hand and something else in the other by illustrating there wasn't a single beverage container in my entire vehicle ("Who is driving this car?! There is no one in control of this vehicle!"), I was given a $140 moving violation for negligent driving in a careless and imprudent manner endangering property, life and person. Subsequently walking into my Econ. class half an hour late, brooding over then and later that night about the unjustness of our "justice" system and the self-serving and selfish attitude of my favorite policeman, I thought it had been overall one of the worst days EVER!

The next morning, I found out Brynn Barton, another Murray High Spartan had been killed in a bike accident, a hit and run. All the sudden I realized how childish I had been the day before. Boy was I lucky I had another day in front of me, I had my family, my friends and some more time to learn, grow and experience LIFE! I join with many others who are praying for her family's comfort and that the person who hit her will face the consequences of their actions. Here's to putting the daily dog poop in our lives behind us and remembering how many blessings we have!