If you have a family that loves you, a few good friends, food on your table and a roof over your head…...you are richer than you think!
What about that!
I’m a sucker for inspirational quotes, as you might have
noticed. I use them often in my writings. There’s something about them that I
find irresistible. Perhaps the fact that they usually come from ordinary people
who’ve gone on to do extraordinary things in their lives is what makes them so
fascinating. Reading their words, their take on life, always revs me up and
makes me think.
If you have a family that loves you, a few good friends,
food on your table and a roof over your head…...you are richer than you think!
I couldn’t find the author of this quote, but I love
it……..and I also felt it was a perfect quote to start the new year with. No, I
don’t have any resolutions; I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions.
But this is always a good time to reflect on the year that’s passed, the months
to come and on life in general.
A
family that loves you: For those of us who grew up
surrounded by family and are still surrounded by their love and support, it’s
hard for us to imagine what life would be like without our loved ones. Everyone
was brought into the world by their mother and father; however, not everyone is
privileged enough to be raised by their parents or to have a family that is
there for them.
I come from a big family – seven siblings. That made nine of
us with our parents. Sadly, Mum and Dad have passed on and a brother and a
sister have also gone too soon before their time………as also some who joined us
along the way. Their absence is always deeply felt and they are missed more
than words can ever express. But over the years, our family has also grown.
Wonderful people have become part of us as sisters and brothers-in-law. And the
beautiful children – my son and his cousins, twenty-one of them in all…….what
joy, what hope they’ve brought into our lives. Now, to this ever expanding wonderful
circle of love have been added the grands………grandchildren, grandnephews and grandnieces.
Oftentimes we take our families for granted, not fully
realising how blessed we are to have that kind of love and support that we can
always count on.
A
few good friends: There are some clichés that get
that way because they’re just so true……..friends are the family we choose for
ourselves, a friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you, friends
walk in when everyone else walks out.
Where would we be without our good friends? They laugh with
you, cry with you, share your secrets and are there when you need them……they stick
by you despite knowing all your faults and flaws. Many times, they know you
better than you know yourself. They make the good times better and the bad
times bearable.
Virginia Woolf once said, “Some people go to priests,
others to poetry, I go to my friends”
Good friends are life's treasures. Their presence reminds us
that we are never really alone. It would be a cold and lonely life without
them.
Food
on the table and a roof: Do we ever truly realise
how blessed and fortunate we are that we have enough food to eat and a roof
over our head?
There are millions of people around the world who go hungry
everyday (some may be just next to you) ……hundreds of thousands of people who
suffer and die of starvation. And there are all those who are homeless with no
shelter from the rain, cold and heat and no safe place to lay down their heads.
We have the luxury of choosing and picking the food we want
to eat and to complain and grumble when we don’t get what we want when we want
it. We not only have roofs over our heads but comfortable homes that we can
call our own, no matter how big or small.
There are many things we have that we take for granted
and do not stop to appreciate how blessed we are for having them.
THANK YOU LORD, for my beautiful family and the amazing
love that’s always with me, my precious friends, for the food I enjoy everyday
and for this wonderful haven I call home. I thank you for the strength you give
me everyday and for every one around me who make my life meaningful.
I am blessed………I am rich.
I would also like to thank all of you my readers. This blog
hasn’t been around for too long…….it’s not even a year old yet. But you give me
a reason to go on. Thank you for the time you give me and my words. I am
honoured.
Counting my blessings and wishing you more……. may the good
Lord keep you through this new year. Wishing each and every one a very happy
2016!