When You Can't See the Forest ...

Birch forest in Banff, AB, Canada

All too often we become so involved in the details of our lives that we lose sight of how truly fortunate we are.

TJ, Lady and I have recently relocated to the Upstate (read "north western corner") of South Carolina. We had quite the trip across the country from where we had been visiting our son & his fiancee in Colorado Springs. It rained. In fact in a few places it DELUGED! The motor home overheated a few times. After a while we were getting pretty cranky. Until we had a thought ...

We realized how fortunate we are! We live in the United States where we don't need a permit or passport to travel from one state to another as we would if we lived in Europe, Asia or Africa. We own our motor home free and clear. How many people today are struggling to keep a roof over their heads? We may be in the 55+ age group but we're both pretty healthy and mobile.

You get the idea. Pretty soon the rain and overheating stops didn't seem to be such an inconvenience. Rather, they were an opportunity to literally stop and smell the flowers, really LOOK at the area we were traveling through. Take the time to appreciate all the beauty and diversity that is here for us to embrace.

In short, we stopped concentrating on the inconvenient trees in our way and broadened our outlook to allow ourselves to see the forest!