Life Changes

I seem to be bombarded lately with life changes. Not necessarily my life changes but people whom I care about. And this has made me think a lot about my own life. I have realized a lot of things.

First of all I am very blessed. I am blessed to have the gospel in my life to give me direction and stability and an eternal perspective in all things (if I'm willing to see it :)). I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who is a better person than I could have known when I decided to marry him (because it takes years not months to discover somethings). I have been blessed with beautiful delightful children who bring joy and life changing lessons to my life. I have been blessed with wonderful parents and siblings who love me and support me and are my very dear friends. I have been blessed with the best friends I could have had at every stage of my life and some who stay friends for life.

I see some of my friends who don't have these blessings and it breaks my heart. It makes me realize how blessed I have been and makes me wonder why some of them have not. I know we all have our own path in life but still I wonder. I know there are people out there who have very difficult trials and I guess I have just realized that I am so far from being one of these people.

I have realized that marriage and happiness can be a very fragile thing. That there are people out there who are so unfortunate to have married some one who for one reason or another turned out to be different than they appeared. I have realized that there are a large number of people out there who miss out on the importance, the joy, and the blessings that children can bring into your life.

I have realized that in all the things we go through in life there are things to love and appreciate and that it is good to "stop and smell the roses" no matter where you are. That when you look back over life in the right moment even the worst times will have blessings that shine through like bright rays of sun shine and you will see how they lead you through the darkness.

I have realized that there are a good many people who have influenced my life in ways they never knew. If you took even one of those people out of my life I would be one of the tragedies left in the wake of George Bailey's wish to have never been born. We bless and effect peoples lives so much more than we realize, and probably more than they realize at the time. My friends are a great blessing to me.

I have realized that through an other's eyes even my life which seems pieced together and boring at best can appear picturesque. We can never see our selves and our blessings for what they are while we are in them. We look at others and we think they have it all or their lives must be perfect. We never know when someone may be thinking the same about us.

I guess I have just realized that I have a lot to be thankful for. And I want to say thank you to all the people who influence me and my life and help make it a good one. I hope that I have been able to lift some one's life even a portion of what mine has been lifted, if for no other reason than to give back some of the miraculous good I've been given.

So I would say that if you are having a bad day or a hard time look back over your life and the people in it and it might surprise you the ways you have been blessed through people that you didn't previously realize. A song that seems to sum it all up, You're Gonna Miss This.