Up, Up and Away

Spiritual Humour

Count Your Blessings

...Has Lady Luck done a runner? Perhaps we should closely inspect our �troubles,� to discover if they carry a �hidden message.� Are we meant to be figuring-out some higher agenda?   Sometimes, the answer is straightforward: Enjoy and value what you�ve got.
      I was forced to consider this when all manner of strange catastrophes started happening in our house. The freezer defrosted overnight; we awoke to find the kitchen awash with peas and had to throw the entire contents away. I must say, the prospect of buying a new freezer left me cold.
     Next to go was the boiler. It had been creaking and groaning for many months and it finally �breathed its last� three weeks into January. What was going on here? Was I missing some essential signal? I live in Cornwall and my back door faces due west over the Atlantic ocean, with nothing between my bathroom window and the icy winds of Nova Scotia, I had to get the boiler fixed. Once again, the padlock was removed from my wallet and the problem was solved.

     �What else have you got in store for me?� I barked at no-one in particular. It wasn�t long before I found out � the drains blocked! I was awoken with this joyous news by my wife. The toilet was full to the brim. There was only one course of action � lift the manhole-cover and rod the drains. A delightful prospect that I looked forward to with relish (I find it so much more versatile than mayonnaise).

There was however a fly in the ointment � I had laid a beautiful slab patio, only months before, and now six of them would have to be broken-up to gain access.
     The site that greeted me on lifting the manhole-cover was one I will never forget, however much I�d like to. The smell had every blue-bottle in Devon and Cornwall heading for my garden with a cry of, �dinner is served!�

     �Why me?� I protested, �Is there a point to all this?�
      That evening, feeling sorry for myself and with my skin still red-raw from a steaming shower, I sat down to watch TV.   It was comic-relief night. As I tuned in, they were showing a documentary about a lady whose child was dying from Malaria. I sat in my comfy chair, in my warm house, in a beautiful part of England and watched this lady break her heart as her child died in front of her eyes. The film informed us that in Africa a child dies from Malaria every thirty seconds.
     How dare I moan over losing a freezer full of food, grumble at my clogged sanitation, or complain that I hadn�t got hot water on tap when I demanded it. My judgement on what was important in my life, changed in that instant. My �message,� I decided, was a broad one... in our country we have so much and we rarely appreciate it, so count your blessings.
     I haven�t got it bad... I�ve got it made.

Do you ever think fate is against you or that the �Gods� aren�t smiling on you? Perhaps they�re trying to get a message through � Spiritual Writer Nick Richardson asks...