blessed and grateful

It seems like this time of year is when one reflects on all they've been blessed with. A couple of my dear friends are in town this week and we've been able to hang out the past few days. While I wish that they lived here again, I'm grateful for the chance to see them again at least. We always have so much fun together.

Lately, you can't turn the news on without hearing about our high unemployment rate or how a lot of people have just given up looking for work. For that reason, I am extremely grateful that I currently have a job. The only thing I know how to do for the jobless is pray for them, which I need to do more of. Sure, I'd love to start a business to provide jobs, but that's simply not where my strengths are. I'm a teacher, I tried to run from that at one point but have now accepted that I think that's exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.

Many of my friends and most of Americans are straddled with debt. That's another thing I'm grateful for, that I don't have any debt. It started with my parents paying for my college, but the better gift was that they taught me how to handle money. This has kept me out of debt all my life except for a 6 month period when I quickly paid off a 2 year car loan. It didn't take long for me to realize that I hated debt and the idea of paying interest for a long period really didn't hold much appeal to me at all.

Recently, I've been in contact with a mission organization down in Haiti, as well as other ones to different places. This summer I'm still hoping to lead a small team down somewhere for a short mission trip. I'm grateful that I live in a day and age where we can travel to any other country in the world in a relatively short time and that it's affordable depending on where you go and how much money you're willing to spend on it. A lot of people ask me how I can afford to travel to so many places. Well, I don't have a mortgage or a car payment and I only pay $400 a month for rent all inclusive. I'm blessed to be able to save a ton of money during the school year so I can then turn around and travel during the summers.

There are so many blessings I take for granted, and for these I am grateful. I'm grateful that God has never left me and has always provided for my needs and blessed me abundantly with material wealth but more importantly relational wealth. The friendships that I most hold dear I'm extremely close with, and for those I am grateful.