There is a Sunday school song that goes something like this "Count your blessings one by one". Too often, we forget to do that. It's only when we see others less fortunate than ourselves that we are reminded of how much we have been given.
On my first trip to India, I saw first hand how the poor in one of the world's largest populated nations live. It's not something one forgets easily - families building make-shift homes on the sidewalk. I was told that some of these people have to pay "rent" for the sidewalk space. Livestock and strays forage for food in piles of rubbish. Horses, cows and donkeys that pull carts filled with supplies look mal-nutritioned. People cram into buses, three-cycle motorcyles, trucks and tractor or animal pulled carts, some hanging precariously. Children have to work, be it in the paddy fields or selling souveniers to tourists.
Of course, not all of India is like that. But during my 5-hour car ride from Delhi to Agra, home to the magnificent Taj Mahal, I saw these scenes repeatedly. After an experience like that, I'm not likely to be complaining about the "hardships" of life anymore. My troubles compared to the daily struggles of these people and animals just to survive day to day seems insignificant. If there's one thing my experience in India has taught me is to count my blessings one by one.
"Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have, we will not be happy - because we will always want to have something else or something more."
Brother David Steindl - Rast
Take time to smell the flowers
6 years ago
1 comment:
When I was in India many years ago, I saw how these streets children lived. I had to part with nearly all the money I had in my purse when I see them begging in dirty tattered clothes, skinny hands outstretched for the last coin or dollar I had. Yes, we should count our blessings and name them one by one....
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