Choosing

The girls and I are reading The Alchemist at the recommendation of a friend.  It's not really a kids book, but it is full of really one liners that get you thinking; we've had some really great discussions as we've gone through it.  The other night we read this bit, "As he mused about these things, he realized he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of the thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure."  Just before this, the boy has lost all of his money to someone who had promised to help him, who had then run off with his money.  As the realization of what has happened to him sinks in, he recognizes he has choice in how he looks at his circumstances.

This week I am on my own parenting here on the home front, and there have been many moments where I have felt overwhelmed, frustrated, irritated, and where I have worried about things.  As I was driving to Anchorage this morning for teacher inservice and mulling over the fact that I wouldn't be participating in an outing with my teacher friends this evening that I had really been looking forward to, I realized that I was in the same position as the boy--but on a much more materialistic level!  I have worried this week about having too much food (grocery shopping the day before Scott was called out of town unexpectedly), about getting laundry done, and about a messy home to name just a few.  This morning as I was driving in I had a moment of clarity when I realized how blessed I am to have these simple worries.  I am worried about having too much fresh food (a problem easily solved--share!) while other mamas worry about having enough.  Other mothers worry about dressing their children while I worry about getting behind on laundry.  My messy home means that I don't have to worry about a safe place to put my kids to bed each night.  I have so many blessings right in front of me and yet I have the audacity to view them as somehow being burdens.  

All of this made me think about this blog post I read a few years ago.  She does a great job of saying basically the same thing...she says, "I don’t need new things, I need new eyes with which to see the things I already have."  Isn't that the truth!!  There are so many people in this world who cannot even imagine the plenty that I enjoy.  Heck, there are plenty of people here in my own zip code for whom plenty seems constantly just out of reach.  God has a way of pointing these things out to us if we listen.  When this showed up (again) in my Facebook feed I realized that maybe He was sending me a little reminder.  So.  Here I am, choosing gratitude over senseless worry because in truth I am blessed.  So very, very blessed.