The Adventures of Jaden and Me

 

I have been reminded lately that I have so many blessings compared to the millions, or even billions of others who have lived through the history of time. I experience much less suffering.  I would choose my own challenges, trials, and problems over many others.  Here are some of the things I have been thinking about after reading books and watching movies:
I am grateful for my overall health.  I watched the movie "The Painted Veil" this week and was reminded of how disease can ravage families, communities, and nations so quickly.  It was painful to watch a representation of a cholera epidemic in Colonial Era China.  I also recently  read the book, "Snowflower and the Secret Fan," a fictional story about two girls and was reminded about how a disease could come through a home and kill entire families within a few days.  If I have a medical issue, I can drive about a mile to a clinic, see a doctor, and get a prescription that often costs $4.00 and usually treats the problem.  I will continue to rely on medications to promote my overall health and am grateful that I have access to medical treatment.
I am so grateful to see and hear and taste and smell.  I am watching a foreign film tonight called "The Color of Paradise" about a deaf boy in Israel whose father plans to disown him.  It is a touching.  I am constantly amazed and mesmerized by the beauty of pink and orange sunsets, fall colors, the spacious bright blue sky I see as I lie on the ground, and tonight a huge dark orange moon.  It's been smoky and as I drove in to work, the moon was on the horizon ahead of me and it had little resemblance to the normal moon.  It looked too big to be real, like something man-made.
I am grateful that I live in a time and place when women usually have the power to control and change their lives.  In the Chinese era described in the Secret Fan book, girls were considered a liability.  They were considered of no inherent value.  Their contribution to the community was to have sons!  Women's feet were also bound to look like a lily.  If their feet were not bound "properly" and broken correctly, their bargaining value during an arranged marriage decreased.  I think about all the women who have experienced extremely abusive relationships.  I watched "The Prize Winner" and thought about how grateful I am that I have never had to live with an alcoholic or violent man. I can't imagine it and respect hard-working women.
I am grateful to be the mother of Jaden.  I can't imagine the sorrow of losing a child.  Or numerous babies and children as women like Emma Smith experienced.  With the poor quality of healthcare, having children not live to adulthood was common.  I recently read my great-grandmother Ada Jackson's description of having two children die about a year apart from each other and the sadness.  I admire the perseverence of the women in my life who have lost children and have continued living with faith and hope.
One other thing that is such a blessing is having family.  I am so grateful to still be close enough to see my parents often.  I love my siblings and their families and getting to see them when I can.  I can't imagine life without family.  I know someone who lost her entire family in a senseless tragedy.  I JUST can't imagine life without family.
I am blessed to work.  The unit where I work is closing next week and I'm sad and a little nervous.  But it's on to an adventure of working with new youth and staff .  Change can be hard but mostly I am just grateful have a job that I like and am able to work.
I can't forget my sweet friend Marcia.  She is so generous.  This week she insisted on buying me a new mattress.  I don't think I have ever had a new mattress in my life. She also insisted on the more comfortable and expensive one.  She has given me couches, furniture, TV's and is always willing to help clean and do laundry. I realized this week that I don't feel like I deserve nice things.  I thought about that and realized a parallel with our relationship with our Heavenly Father. 
I think God is uncomprehendably generous and knows we deserve nice things-like feeling his love and light, having peace of heart and mind, feeling self-mastery, strength, and joy.  He wants us to have eternal happiness.  And even though sometimes, I have felt like I didn't deserve all of his goodness  and blessings, the hymn declares I am "sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify. Oh it is wonderful" to know that...I am so very blessed...