Flashlight and Tweezers

I was talking with someone recently who was going through a really hard time.  She had just lost her mom;  found out she'd lost a brother who she'd been out of touch with for years;  watched her other brother go back to drugs.  The list includes many other things including more than one chronic health condition that will eventually take her life and a common-law husband who she's never had the perfect relationship with and hasn't even seen for a few months.  We were talking about what God wants for us and how we should live--the meaning of life kind of stuff.  She told me how we are supposed to focus on the things we have to be grateful for, even if we need a flashlight and a pair of tweezers to find them.  I laughed.  That may be the best proverb I've ever heard.

It's given me reason to ponder so many times over the past month about how many people who have lived in the history of time have needed a flashlight and a pair of tweezers to find things to be thankful for.  I am not one of those people.  From the time I was born,  I have had everything I needed to have a good life.   My parents loved me.  I always had a home.  I got to have a good education.  I've had a variety of incredible friends.  I've seen beautiful, interesting, places and experienced so many wonderful things. 

Since I've grown up,  I've had the blessing of a husband who is honorable and giving and who I know was a gift to me from a loving Heavenly Father.  I have 3 of the choicest people who've ever been on the planet as my own children.  Again, I have a home that's warm and stocked with good food to eat and healthy water to drink.  I am in good health.  I'm still learning and seeing and doing many wonderful things.

Though losing my son is impossible to bear and can, at times, overshadow all the other things that are good in my life, I don't need a flashlight or a pair of tweezers to find the blessings that can give me solace.