By Marilyn C. Arayata
I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet.” It’s not easy to trace the origin of this quote, but one thing is certain: people feel miserable when they don’t appreciate what they have and complain about what they lack instead.
Complaints lead to further dissatisfaction and a feeling that you are not as blessed as other people – especially if you are active on social media and you see how happy, blessed, and fortunate your online friends are. (What you see is just a fraction of a whole, selected and edited. Who knows the struggles they go through as they post about what is good and beautiful about their lives?)
If you’d only count your blessings every day! What blessings and favors continue to flow in your life? What five things made you smile, made you thankful this week? Appreciate them and you will feel happy. What’s the point of complaining about what you lost and what you do not have? It will only make you feel miserable. It will affect your mood, your health, and your everyday life. The people around you will also get the energy that you exude.
Count your blessings.
Here’s an excerpt from a poem (author unknown).
“… when I stopped to buy some sweets,
the lad who served me had such charm;
he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm;
I said, “it’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find;”
He turned and said, “Oh, thank you, sir.”
And then I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two eyes; the world is mine.
When we feel like complaining, let us stop and count our blessings. Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. Forgive us when we whine.
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