Always Count Your Blessings

Always Count Your Blessings

JBH Wonders, 2011

There used to be an “all American dream”. During a happy and nourished childhood living in the suburbs, one would go to a good school, on to become maybe a football hero or head cheerleader in high school, go to college and/or do military service, marry your high school sweetheart, buy a nice house, raise some children, and pursue a successful career.

And there would be the large family get-togethers on Thanksgiving and Christmas for a day of dinners, laughter and reminiscing. There would also be family barbecues, family reunions, school events, etc.

Then your children are grown up and you send them to college and then marry them off. So now you enjoy the grandchildren when they come along, you retire, maybe travel and perhaps get involved with social work and government issues. Then you grow old with your spouse, collect a retirement and social security, then you die.

I once was the so-called productive citizen. I had a career job of over thirty years but made the mistake of staying with work that I enjoyed instead of work that would somewhat guarantee me financial security upon retiring. For the most part, I enjoyed my career but towards the end of it, I felt something was lacking. As a result of my ponderance upon these feelings, my performance became less and less of the top-notch work that was once my expected level of expertise.

Perhaps my employer and co-workers eventually sensed this. As a result, I became the old fogy and was no longer given the respect that I once had. It seemed that I was no longer the “boy wonder” and “answer man”. I was also ridiculed to some extent by certain individuals that I once considered to be my friends.

So after over thirty years of service, I was “laid off” with no formal warning. I was brought into the office one Thursday afternoon and was told nicely that there was no longer any work for me and that I was being laid off. So much for “fun careers”. (In all fairness, the company’s business had been suffering for years and many other co-workers had already been laid off).

If I had picked the right sweatshop to work in for thirty years, I might have ended up with some retirement benefits or a severance payment. That was not the case for me. However, I have no regrets. My career was fun, challenging, and exciting for many years though one could not call it a financial success.

But, I digress. I am not writing this paper to express any woes on a loss of a career. I am trying to express and explain the blessing that I have been given. I am usually cash poor these days but…..

I have been blessed perhaps because I am not living the so-called American dream. I live outside the “American dream” box and can now look into what others are living but do not see. Yes I have done some of the things listed above but I will never do it all. My blessing is to actually see the futility and nonsense (some would call it bullshit) that goes on around me. Yes, there would be some security and comfort for me to be still inside of the box, but I prefer the view from out here.Motivational speaker, author, and counselor 

Steve Pavlina suggests we should all strive to escape the rat race at any cost.

There are those who complain about what they do not have. There are those who complain about what they do have.

“…you don’t know what you got ‘til its gone…” (Joni Mitchell; “Yellow Taxi”)

These are some things which I feel are blessings:

· I now have time to write articles like this one about my concerns in life. I have a large stack of topics that I want to write about to share my knowledge, life experiences and feelings about various issues.

· I am out of financial debt for the first time since I was discharged from the Navy in 1976.

· No man is my master

· Due to certain steps that I have taken and some acts of God, I currently at least enjoy a certain amount of isolation and anonymity from any government agency.

· I am starting out again with pretty much a “clean slate”. I can go wherever or do whatever I want as God leads me.

· I do not have to report for work for anyone on a regular basis. I do work for pay when I can as I still need to eat.

· I spent over thirty years in a “climate controlled” environment for forty or more hours per week. Now I can go outside and play.

· Much of my days now are spent out of doors. I am no longer a captive in a climate-controlled cubicle.

· I grew up in the Midwest of these united states of America so I know the hardship of a cold and snowy winter. I spent the winter of 2010 and 2011 in southern Texas. I mowed grass there in December and the middle of February. (One does not mow grass in the mid-west during the winter months).

· I have painted the exterior of a house in January. One does not do any exterior painting in the mid-west during the winter months.

· I have sat in a back yard wearing a t-shirt and drinking a cold beer in late February. You would be crazy to do this in the mid-west.

· I have more time to just think and meditate about things without having any stress. This was a major paradigm shift for me. Truly, I no longer worry about or over anything. Yes, I am still sensible so I make some tentative plans to do this or that when the time seems right. And given all of the endless world problems that plague us all, I do not fret over anything. It is a nice feeling-or non-feeling if you prefer.

“Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.” Amos 5:13

“Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.: Amos 5:14

· Though I don’t always have any steady “positive cash flow”, by God’s good grace, thus far I have every material thing that I need and cash seems to come along from some source when I need it. And the work that comes my way is a variety of work. Sometimes it is easy for me. Other times the work can be physically challenging. And then there are times when a challenge is presented to me and I gain knowledge and skills from the endeavor. (This ole dog is learning new tricks)

I thank our Father in heaven every day that I am well fed, have shelter, and some task to accomplish for the day ahead. On the days that I don’t have these things, I still give thanks that they were there yesterday and pray for better days ahead.

 Some drawbacks of all this is the change in relationships between family and friends. I often have difficulty in communicating with them about certain things. This could be because I’ve had a “paradigm shift” and now have a different frame of reference.

I no longer have any interest in some of the petty things people talk about such as TV programs, scandals, celebrity news, sports, the price of gasoline, “politics”, etc. This is another blessing I think. A few less things to get all heated up about.

Americans, those living in the so-called “United States”, lead a farce of a life. They live in a dream world and most do not know how easy they have it. We take so many things for granted; like running water inside the house, easy to acquire food, showers, toilets, many sources of entertainment, transportation systems, and the list could go on and on.

Some people in other parts of the world work very hard just to feed themselves. Many people in other parts of the world have to constantly re-build their lives after their community was attacked by some armed group-governmental or otherwise.

I will close this article with an experience I had not long ago.

Today while stopping for a rest on the bicycle trail, I had a short conversation with God. OK, I thought I was playing both parts but perhaps the “conversation” was inspired.

God: “What is troubling you my child?”

Me: “Something is missing in my life”.

God: “Tell me your blessings and we can go from there”.

Me: “Well, I am well fed and healthy. I have no financial debt. Most of the time I have something to do-usually helping someone else. I am out of doors most of the time instead of the many days and years I spent cooped up working inside of a building.

Many times I get some sort of compensation for the work that I now do. It is either in cash, food, lodging, etc. As a result of some of this work, I have an adequate “nest egg”. I also have a portable motor home that runs very well. Both the gasoline and LPG tanks are filled up. The cupboards of my RV are packed with food and other necessities. I can re-locate to anywhere that I want.

My daughters and grandchildren seem to be happy and healthy. But something is still missing”.

God: “If you do not know what is missing, then you are still in training and have much to learn my son”.

So still feel blessed but I am searching for something.