Burdens or Blessings?

You ever have one of those days where nothing goes right? Or maybe, it lasts beyond a 24 hour period to a week...a month...or even a year or longer. A couple of years ago, my wife and I got a long hard dose of this experience. Let me take you back to when it all began, Memorial Day Weekend 2005, early Saturday morning at my dad's house. My wife and I had loaded up our luggage, including our one and a half year old Brittany Spaniel and Sharpei-Lab mix, and we headed west toward my mom's house, which was about 15 miles away. I had the lame brain idea of letting our Brittany ride in the bed of the pickup, after all, our Blue Heelers did it all time growing up; plus, I reassured my wife I'd drive slowly. Well, that didn't stop him from breaking his leg as he crashed down on the pavement a few miles from my dad's place. This incident resulted in several pricey vet visits, including once surgery and weeks of recovery. It was a long 10 weeks. To add to the excitement, we also discovered our home had a horrible gas leak, and tree fell over in our yard and took with it some sort of power lines. But to put the cherry on top, one day my wife and I noticed our other dog was walking funny. We took her to the vet only to discover she had the worse case of hip displasia the vet had ever seen in a dog that young....and it was in both hips. Yep, you guessed, two more surgeries. Now, I know many of you (assuming many people read this blog) have the same thought as my dad and brother, "It's a dog. Just get a new one." But, if you love dogs like my wife and I, you'd understand. I said all that, simply to say, we had a bad year. Lots of unforeseen expenses.

Well, the Lord saw us through and provided as He always does. When the "crisis" is over, I am quite ashamed at my little faith. So it has been a couple years since this series of unfortunate events, but my wife and I come full circle. Lately it seems that there is one thing to do after another, and it always cost money. And on top of that, my wife is transitioning from graduate school to her new job, which means at least 1 month without pay. OUCH! As some of you know, my wife recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy in January. So, I don't know if this expense counts as it is something most new parents experience. There are diapers, doctor's visits, hospital bills, child care, and much much more. But let me list some other things that have occurred since January. My wife informed me she was in dire need of new clothes. Now, this was something we couldn't foresee. The maternity clothes were too big, but her pre-pregnancy clothes were still too small. No big deal. But what surprised me the most were her shoes. I couldn't believe she went so long without buying new ones. They were in such pathetic condition, we couldn't even donate them. A homeless person wouldn't even want these shoes. So we bought her new shoes. Well, I too needed new shoes. But not just tennis shoes, but also dress shoes. Let me move on to our vehicles. Not only have I knocked off the spoiler and tore off some molding on our fairly new Toyota Matrix, but recently my wife pull up over a curb while parking. We traded vehicles that day and when I backed it out, it almost tore the entire front end off. So we'll have to get that fixed. Then, the other day, I went out to my pickup and it wouldn't start....the battery was dead. So, I had to go spend almost a hundred bucks on a new battery this weekend. On top of that we keep getting medical bills that we thought we had paid off. But, again, to add the cherry on top, our kitchen cabinets fell off the wall the other day. I chuckle in disbelief when I think about it. So, I have a guy coming out to give me an estimate on that. Additionally, we are planning on moving in a few months, and the house needs a little lift before we sell.

I said all that to share with you this thought. Early one morning, I was sitting on my Oklahoma State University park bench in my front yard with my son. It was such a beautiful morning. My son was calm and content, so I decided to send up a little prayer to God. As I was praying, I guess the Holy Spirit moved me thank God for all the blessings he has given us - the house, the cars, the dogs, my wife, my son, etc. These are the blessing I have often found myself complaining about. I realized that God has blessed me with so much, that it is hard sometimes giving those blessing their due attention in order take care of them. Ironically, I still pray for more. That particular morning, I found a new appreciation and outlook regarding my "burdens." These kinds of burdens are simply a reminder to me that I am blessed beyond what I deserve. God is Good.