Have a Blessed Day

This week my car has been acting up a little and today it was acting weirdly enough that I decided I had better get it checked out.

Getting the car checked is right up there at the top of my "things to hold off on as long as possible" list, along with going to the doctor and other such things. Subconsciously I think it is an attempt at no news is good news -- or rather, no news is better than bad news. However when I think about it, a safe car and a healthy body are pretty important in the grand scheme of things, so why I put them off is a mystery. Maybe it's the price tag. And let me tell you, getting my car fixed today has a doozy of a price tag.

After the man at the car shop gave me the bad news, I had the fun task of calling my spouse to relay the information. I was walking outside and the mailman was making his stop at the repair shop. He smiled at me, but I was so caught up in my dread of calling my husband and the ache in my gut from wondering how we would pay for this unexpected repair, I just basically looked right at him, but through him -- and did not smile back.

Something made me realize as soon as the mailman was past me that I had not returned his smile and I felt really bad. That may sound silly, because honestly, was my "non-smile" going to make a bit of difference to that mailman? Probably not. But you never know. Because as cliche or corny as it may sound I firmly believe that you never really know who desperately needs a smile or a kind word at any given moment.

I knew the mailman would have to walk by me again to get to his vehicle so I decided to redeem myself. I smiled and said hello and he smiled right back and said ~ "Have a blessed day!"

Have a blessed day.

It turns out those four words were exactly what I needed at that moment. The stress I was feeling about the car lightened considerably and amazingly, my phone call to my husband had a much better outcome than I expected. I realized in that moment that all day I had been watching news of a terrible earthquake and deadly tsunami in Japan that threatens to spawn tsunamis in many other places. People have lost their lives -- people are missing and injured. When you consider that -- my car repair woes are nothing.

I am blessed. I have many blessed days. Life is not easy. It is not meant to be. But it is so true that things could always be worse. And they usually are for someone.

At the end of today I will have another chunk of debt to worry about, but my car will be safer to transport my children in. We have a roof over our heads that has not been washed away by a powerful storm. We have food, we have clothes, we have family and friends. We have our faith.

It is a blessed day and I am grateful.