If I have said it before I will say it again—-I lead a charmed life.  I really do.  But it has not come without a few bumps in the road along the way.  I choose to move on from those and not dwell on them which has worked out well for me.  I like the way I feel when I do not think about the negative things that have happened in the past.

Then a week hits that reminds me what kind of world we live in.  A world that has a lot of sadness and challenges.  A world that offers up unfair things to people who do not deserve unfair things happening to them.

Take the shocking death of a 16 year old Boy Scout in North Carolina.  While I did not know him I did know his foster parents and the troop he was a part of was associated with the United Methodist Church that I worked in for 5 years.  He was with the troop hiking in the mountains and fell and the entire community is in shock of mourning the death of this young man who lost his life far too soon.  I can not even begin to imagine what those who are close to him are feeling at this point when I, who did not even know him, have a huge ache in my heart for a boy whose life was ended far too early.

I also volunteered at the local Community Kitchen for a morning.  It is similar to ones in almost every town these days—-folks can go get a hot meal at lunch and now ours is also offering dinner several nights a week.  These are the elderly and the disenfranchised, the unemployed and the disabled, the mentally ill and the folks who are just down on their luck.  All were appreciative.  All were polite.  That is not always the case but for this day it was and it reminded me that I have a full refrigerator full of healthy food that I can cook easily.  I have a full belly and a roof over my head.  I live in the lap of luxury while some of the folks I served today can not scrape together enough to buy one bag of groceries let alone have a full pantry and refrigerator.

There is injustice in the world, isn’t there?  Just because you are a “nice person” it does not mean that life is easy.  Trials come and go and hopefully we learn from them.  Today I am just a tad more appreciative of what I have and of the relationships that I have in my life with people who I really care about.  There is no substitute for that and I am grateful.  What are you grateful for today?