Blessed

This post has nothing to do with Danny, or even horses at all, but I am posting on both of my blogs because I feel it has merit.

Two days ago I was in Walmart (my least favorite place in the world) to get some medicine for Simon who has tonsillitis.  The was an older man in there, African American, who was dressed in old raggy clothes.  As I sat on the bench waiting for them to finish my prescriptions, I watched this man.  He shuffled past me and I noticed that he had a sparkle in his eye and a smile that warmed the entire room. He said hello to me, and asked how I was doing.  I said hello back and told him I was good, and asked how he was doing.  He said, "Oh I am blessed."   Then he moved to the end of the line to wait his turn. Each person he came in contact with, he asked the same thing, and each time the other person reciprocated out of politeness, he always answered the same, "Oh I am blessed." 

Now here is the thing that was the most interesting to me.  Each time I heard him say those words, "I am blessed." you could hear the sincerity in his voice. This was a man who was truly happy to just be a live another day.  It was obvious he did not have much monetarily but it was also obvious that to him, it was irrelevant.

Have you ever been around someone, either a stranger or someone that you knew, who just carried with them an air of peace and serenity, or perhaps genuine spirituality?  This man had that.  You could actually feel it while standing next to him.  It is a rare thing to find. My Meemaw had that.  She was not just a religious woman, she was a very spiritual woman, and it showed in everything she said and did.   

Anyway, back to the man in the store.  As I sat there sort of basking in the warmth of his smile, I had to ask myself.   Am I blessed?  Well of course I am.  Do I recognize that I am blessed? No not near enough.  How often do I get caught up in the trials and tribulations of each day and forget how blessed I am?  Pretty much everyday.

So today, and everyday I challenge myself to recognize how wonderful my life is & to accept the blessings that come to me each day with grace and gratitude.  I challenge myself to be a kinder gentler person, who brings warmth in a smile to others.  I challenge myself to love life with a spirituality that is tangible to others. 

Maybe, just maybe, if I can meet those challenges, I can change the way someone else sees the world just as that man changed things for me. 

Who knows...maybe it will even start a snowball effect of spirituality around the world.