Counting My Blessings

This morning's photo is another from a different camping and canoe trip last summer. This photograph is from Silent Lake Provincial Park which is located about twenty miles south of Bancroft. My son will happily to recount that he has been to Silent Lake every year of his life since the year before he was born. He can remember learning to camp and canoe there and I have told him that his Mom and I were there in July or August in the year when he was born in October.

Good morning on yet another cool damp morning. My car has decided that it doesn't like this weather either since it was difficult to start and misfired for a while until it warmed up and dried out a bit. I suppose I have a crack in either the distributor cap or a plug wire. This is not the weather I want to go out and play with the car so I hope this weather dries up soon.

I was checking through the news this morning to read of the latest tragedy which involves the explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia which has trapped 13 miners. On Monday I learned that in southern Germany the roof of an ice rink collapsed killing 11 including three children. Every day without fail there appears to yet another tragic event in the world reporting by the daily news and these do not include those that perish daily from starvation or what ought to be outbreaks of controllable diseases. I can't help but wonder at those I hear around me complaining endlessly about the most minor difficulties as though these were of serious significance in the overall scheme of things.

Oh I complain about the weather but not in a serious way since our the weather I have been exposed to has never been serious in my lifetime. I may vent regarding various aspects of my personal life but I also take responsibility for my own actions. I wonder when I listen to some people if they ever truly look at their own conditions and compare them to others that are facing real tragedies. I remember as a child being told to count my blessings and to this day I will catch myself when I am feeling a little down and give myself a shake. I have a roof over my head which is warm, dry and supplied with clean water. I may make the choice of what food I wish to eat today. If I become ill I have a medical care available to me. I can live in relative freedom and without fear provided I adhere to the rules of our society.

My heart goes out today to the families of those miners and to the families or those who were killed or may still be trapped within that ice rink. I have lost love ones before and I recall the feeling of unfairness and why me Lord. I can't help but imagine the feeling of hopelessness felt by the parent of a child who is wasting away to starvation or disease. So today I am thankful that I have the opportunity to make new year's resolutions and to have the choice to take control over my own future. It certainly puts it into perspective when I have the opportunity to feel a little discomfort caused by exercising this body to keep myself healthy.

In other words addressed to myself, "get off your butt and take advantage of all of the opportunities that your life is offering you and make the best of all that you have been given, without complaining."