I’m always writing about the importance of focusing on your blessings, no matter what struggles you might be having. It can be challenging, but it is usually doable. This weekend, I had two opportunities to do just that! Hint: If you keep reading, you’ll see why I’ve included a picture of my kitchen on this post.
We were planning to go to our youngest son’s house on Saturday. His oldest daughter’s birthday celebration was that day. It’s a 2 hr. drive to get there, and the party was to start at noon.
The day before, my husband drove to Costco. When he came out, the car wouldn’t start. He called AAA, thinking it was the battery, which was over 4 years old. When the serviceman came, he confirmed that we needed a new battery, but also said that our starter needed to be replaced. That was at 6 p.m. on a Friday evening of a holiday weekend, and we needed to leave by 10 the next morning!
My husband knew that we would not be able to get it fixed at a repair shop in time, so he decided to see if he could get at the starter. Jerry is not a mechanic, but he is a very handy guy! He was able to get the starter out, went down to the auto parts store, and got a new starter. Early the next morning, he was able to get it installed, and the car started right up. It started with a vigor that had been missing recently.
There were several blessings in that whole situation! Other than the expense, and the work for my husband, it is easy to see all of the blessings. He had his cell phone. We had AAA. The car problems weren’t too complicated. And best of all, because of my husband’s skills and determination, we made it to the party on time!
The next opportunity to focus on our blessings came when we got home. We have a refrigerator that has French doors. It’s a great refrigerator, with one exception. You have to close the right door first, or it can stay a bit ajar. That then activates the built-in alarm signal. That’s fine — if you’re home!
Our problem was that I had gotten some water out of it just before we left, and evidently didn’t get the door closed tight. Since we were in a hurry, as soon as I filled my travel mug with water, I had gone outside to join my husband, who was already in the car. From 10 Saturday morning until about 5 Sunday evening, our refrigerator door alarm was beeping to let our cat, Sadie, know that the door was ajar. Unfortunately, Sadie’s skills are limited. The door remained open, and the beeper kept beeping, and the refrigerator got warmer and warmer — and warmer!
When we came home to discover what had happened, the alarm was still going, and the temp in the refrigerator had reached 89 degrees! Not good!! Everything had to be removed and thrown away. I worked on cleaning it all up for a long time. Not the best way to end a great weekend visit with our kids! After taking time to be frustrated, I switched my focus to what I was grateful for.
Here are just some of the blessings: 1) My husband right away gave me a hug, and not one word of criticism passed his lips! He may have been thinking something negative, but he didn’t say anything out loud — or even hint that I had messed up royally! He knew I already felt terrible about ruining all the food, condiments, etc. 2) The refrigerator motor didn’t burn up! Our son, Paul, who is an electrician, told us that it was hard on the condensing unit to run constantly trying to cool things down, so we were lucky. 3) The food in the freezer was fine, since they operate independently. Yay for that! 4) Our trip was short! We were only gone a little over 30 hours. What if we’d been gone a few days?! 5) To top it all off, we had good justification for going out for breakfast this morning, since there was nothing to eat — no eggs, no milk, etc. So…we enjoyed being waited on, and having someone else do the cooking — and the clean-up!
I could go on and on about the different blessings, but I’m sure you get the point. It would have been easy to have gotten stuck in the negativity of both situations. But, what would that have accomplished? There was no way to rewind time, and avoid what happened. Instead, both my husband and I got busy, took action to deal with what needed to be dealt with, and then we counted our blessings! You can do that too!
Until next time,
Linda
Counting your blessings isn’t always easy, but there’s always something there to be grateful for!
Thank you, Calla! I think we’d all be happier if we could learn to focus on those blessings.
Linda
I think you should also feel blessed that you weren’t in my house!! LOL. I think it is amazing that you and your husband were able to handle all this so wonderfully and that must be a testimony to your both walking the talk! It pays off at times like this.
Appreciatively,
Lynn
Oh, oh! What was going on in your house, Lynn? Hopefully, nothing too bad. My husband and I have been married 47 years, and we’ve learned not to “sweat the small stuff!” No one was in danger, and the mess could be dealt with, so we were both able to move forward as a team. Thanks for commenting, Lynn!
Linda