HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's 2012... where's my flying car?! :-) As a child, I alwasy envisioned we'd beliving like the Jetsons by this time, but I look around and alas, we are not. We do have some pretty cool gadgets that have graced society though, don't we? The iPad (yes...I want one!!), our GPS systems, bluetooth, in vehicle integration, 3D television... the list goes on and on. With all of these amazing and life changing things being introduced into the markets, it's so easy to be caught up in the "I Want That" race. A few things have happened over the past weeks, which have brought my feet firmly back to the ground and reminded me of WANT vs. NEED... and where true happieness lies.
I was driving home with the kids and took a detour through an upscale neighborhood. The homes there are beautiful...and BIG. My daughter asked me if they were town homes. When I explained that these homes were for one family each, she was in shock! She and my son quickly started the "oh, look at that one!" and "cool, that one would be fun to live in" remarks. I smiled, remembering those conversations I'd had with my brother too as a child. What rocked me back to reality was what my daughter said next....
Her brother had pointed out the biggest house in view and was going on and on about how big it was, and how many people could fit into that house. My daughter was quiet for a moment, and then said "I think, when I'm all grown up, I just want a house that fits my family, even if its big or just a little family. I don't need a giant house, cause then I would have too many rooms and stuff to walk through to see my family! A little house, that fits my family just perfect, is all I'd want... just like our house, huh mom?"
One that fits, just perfect... just enough for what I need. I'll admit, I felt a slight twinge of guilt in this comment, because I want more for my kids than the house we live in now... but she's right. For this family now, it's perfect. As this family grows together and changes, that reality could change, but what a way to be kicked back to my senses! I look around, see the news, read the stories, hear from friends and family.. and I realize I have a good life, and I know it could always be worse. I think sometimes I lose sight of how what I have provides to our needs... perhaps not always all our wants, but when it comes to having what I need to survive, I know i'm good...
What really solidified this thought in my heart, was what my mom told me someone I know, and love, had said. This person was watching a news cast on TV when the news anchor made the comment "well, it could have been worse". To that remark, he agreed and said "you know, it could always be worse, even with this situation here." The situation he was referring to was the diagnosis he'd received just a few months earlier of stage 3 pancreatic cancer. He's dying... and his response to the news anchors remark was it could always be worse?!
He continued on with his remark, saying "what if cancer was contagious? That would mean that I'd have to go through this all alone, because no one would go near me because then they'd catch cancer and that by the time he'd would have been diagnosed, (if cancer was contagious), his whole family would have already had it!" What an amazing perspective....I admire the strength he has to keep that perspective, and to keep his spririts about him as he faces each day he's given. It gave me new depth to the phrase "It could be worse"
Over the past couple of weeks, I've had the privilage to not only participate in or be privvy to these stories, but I've also had the wonderful gift of Paid Time Off :-) I was able to take 2 weeks off work, and spend that time with my children, my family and my friends. This Christmas was one of the best I've had in years - I was able to enjoy it, to see my family in a whole new light, and to be reminded day after precious day, how incredibly blessed I am in life, even on the days when I feel like things could have been worse - and how it all fits, just perfect, for where I am in life today.
I was driving home with the kids and took a detour through an upscale neighborhood. The homes there are beautiful...and BIG. My daughter asked me if they were town homes. When I explained that these homes were for one family each, she was in shock! She and my son quickly started the "oh, look at that one!" and "cool, that one would be fun to live in" remarks. I smiled, remembering those conversations I'd had with my brother too as a child. What rocked me back to reality was what my daughter said next....
Her brother had pointed out the biggest house in view and was going on and on about how big it was, and how many people could fit into that house. My daughter was quiet for a moment, and then said "I think, when I'm all grown up, I just want a house that fits my family, even if its big or just a little family. I don't need a giant house, cause then I would have too many rooms and stuff to walk through to see my family! A little house, that fits my family just perfect, is all I'd want... just like our house, huh mom?"
One that fits, just perfect... just enough for what I need. I'll admit, I felt a slight twinge of guilt in this comment, because I want more for my kids than the house we live in now... but she's right. For this family now, it's perfect. As this family grows together and changes, that reality could change, but what a way to be kicked back to my senses! I look around, see the news, read the stories, hear from friends and family.. and I realize I have a good life, and I know it could always be worse. I think sometimes I lose sight of how what I have provides to our needs... perhaps not always all our wants, but when it comes to having what I need to survive, I know i'm good...
What really solidified this thought in my heart, was what my mom told me someone I know, and love, had said. This person was watching a news cast on TV when the news anchor made the comment "well, it could have been worse". To that remark, he agreed and said "you know, it could always be worse, even with this situation here." The situation he was referring to was the diagnosis he'd received just a few months earlier of stage 3 pancreatic cancer. He's dying... and his response to the news anchors remark was it could always be worse?!
He continued on with his remark, saying "what if cancer was contagious? That would mean that I'd have to go through this all alone, because no one would go near me because then they'd catch cancer and that by the time he'd would have been diagnosed, (if cancer was contagious), his whole family would have already had it!" What an amazing perspective....I admire the strength he has to keep that perspective, and to keep his spririts about him as he faces each day he's given. It gave me new depth to the phrase "It could be worse"
Over the past couple of weeks, I've had the privilage to not only participate in or be privvy to these stories, but I've also had the wonderful gift of Paid Time Off :-) I was able to take 2 weeks off work, and spend that time with my children, my family and my friends. This Christmas was one of the best I've had in years - I was able to enjoy it, to see my family in a whole new light, and to be reminded day after precious day, how incredibly blessed I am in life, even on the days when I feel like things could have been worse - and how it all fits, just perfect, for where I am in life today.
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