PERSPECTIVE

I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man with no feet.

~Irish Proverb

What a lousy week… It was the kind of week where the simple act of waking up was a cardio workout. As soon as my feet hit the floor I remembered what bills were due and how there was no way to pay them. My heart would race, I would break out in a sweat and I would begin to feel breathless and lightheaded. As good as any workout.. except I don’t know how many calories I actually burned.

It came down to priorities…. Which bill was attached to the biggest threat? If I didn’t pay the electric bill, we would lose our electricity… not too pleasant with 98% humidity at 90 degrees. If I didn’t’ pay the cable bill we would lose cable, internet AND telephone… I don’t think so. This triple threat would knock out our home business and any chance at all to get enough money to ever get anything turned on again. If I didn’t make the final payment in our mortgage repayment plan we would lose the house to foreclosure. Not an option. Of course there was the credit card. It had actually already been paid by a check by phone three months ago. Three payments had been scheduled to come out each month and this was the final month. I called the company and told them I had no choice but to stop payment on the check. I was threatened with a $25 service charge. I am pretty sure I said something like “bring it on” and left for the bank to sign the stop payment papers.

I figured everything out, and miraculously enough, just enough money trickled in to pay all the bills.. well, except for the credit card. I lamented and complained my way through the week and then, like being whacked with a sledgehammer, I was hit with a brand new perspective.

Just a few states away, tens of thousands of people lost their electricity, businesses, and homes. They were not able to call anyone and plead for an extension. Daddy’s have lost children, children have lost Mommy’s, Husbands have lost wives. There is not one story that has come from the South that doesn’t tear at the heart.

It seems like just a few days ago my world was falling in… I thought I was about to lose everything. The truth is, I have never REALLY experienced loss. I type this while tucked into bed with my 9 year old lying next to me reading a book. He can’t sleep. Neither can I. He suggests I count sheep. I think I’m just going to count my blessings.