Count Your Blessings

I have been feeling stressed lately about life in general. Nothing specific just a lot of little things. I shouldn't be, I should count my blessings. Most people don't have the things or the people in their lives that I have. I have a wonderful husband, 2 great kids, and a large extended family that I adore who love me right back. I am lucky, I am blessed with good things in my life. I have a nice home, a good job, insurance, nice vehicles to drive, some money in the back, good health and on and on. But sometimes I forget about all the good things I have and focus on the not so good, but lately I feel with some of the events that have been taking place that God is telling me to look beyond myself to see the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is that I am blessed; and I need to stop and appreciate how truly fortunate I am. This past weekend brought tragedy to our small town. Our village of 719 people suffered a huge loss, 3 of our high school students were in a tragic accident that left 2 of them dead and one hanging on for dear life. How do you come to grips with something like that. It is such a small community that we knew these kids families. Our son had a locker three down from one of them. One was the great grandchild of my husbands childhood neighbors. The accident was within 3 miles from our home. We saw that fire trucks zoom through town, and even then I didn't give it a second thought that some of our children were hurt, dying, dead. It made me realize some very important things, but mostly how truly lucky I am to have my children home and safe with me. To have my husband come home unharmed every night from driving truck. The little things that you take for granted can be gone so quickly.
So stop, take the time to tell your children and families that you love them. This definitely changed my thinking about what is really important in life and what isn't worth sweating over. My kids are going to do stupid things in life, they will make mistakes, but what is really important is that they know every time they leave the house that I love them, that their Dad loves them. That no matter what they can come to us with anything, we might not always we happy with their decisions but that we will always be there when they need us. The laundry getting folded or the floor getting vacuumed can wait just a little while longer, because right now I am talking to my kids, telling them I love them, giving them a hug and making sure that they know that they make me proud.