Are you stressed? Or are you blessed? Often times we are stressed because of things that are happening in our lives or during the year of 2020; things that happen to not be happening during our lives. People are stressed because they are working less. People are stressed because they are making less. People are stressed because they have to plan their grocery shopping trips in greater detail, and go at unusual hours. They are stressed about having to wear masks. They are stressed that they are supposed to spend limited time with others. They are stressed that they can’t go out and about. They are stressed that they have to stay home. People are stressed.
Perhaps instead we should consider how we are blessed. We are blessed because we have an opportunity to work when we can, even though many of us will have time away from work. We are blessed to be able to have an unemployment system that eventually will pay benefits. We are blessed to have additional money that is part of that unemployment insurance. We are blessed that we have grocery stores to go to, where the shelves are almost filled every single day with virtually everything that we want and need. We are blessed that we can still be connected with family and friends, maybe not face to face, but through technology and through social distancing. We are able to still spend time together. We are blessed that we live in a country that was founded on the idea of the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of happiness, so each of us can work harder and more diligently to make our world a better place tomorrow than it was yesterday. We are blessed to live in a country, in which we aspire to become a more perfect union, realizing there are bumps and bruises along the way, in which often times we do go through stress; but compared to so many other countries on the planet, we are so richly blessed.
At this time of the year, at the beginning of July, when we remember the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, let’s pause for a moment, and think less of how much stress there is in our lives, and instead consider how much each of us has been blessed.
