Day 33
Live As A Blessing
Reflection By: Anonymous

So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time - Matthew 6:34

I am blessed. I have a home, food and clothing, healthy children, and a loving husband and extended family. My children are being taught in one of the best public school systems in the nation. My children are given every opportunity that any parent would wish for her offspring - a solid foundation in which to build their young lives. Superficially, there's little suffering to be dealt with on a daily basis in Naperville.

Is this the only criteria for a life blessed by God?

What if we're blessed with all of the above and then we're diagnosed with inoperable cancel, or we're an addict struggling daily with sobriety, or we're parents of a severely-disabled child? Are our lives then cursed? Does our suffering, our struggle, our challenge cancel out all other blessings, making our lives blessing-less?

I struggle with the disease of alcoholism every day of my life, and I am truly blessed. As a recovering alcoholic, I begin each morning with a prayer asking God once again to turn my will over to Him and to seek His direction and wisdom throughout my day. During my waking hours, I pray that my actions do not cause pain, but are a blessing for those that I encounter. At night, I examine my conscience, aiding me in my participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Being human, I always find something that I must atone for and then I do so. Just before I turn out the light, I thank God for blessing me with another sober day. Does this sound like a person cursed?

I have been blessed with an abundance of compassion for individuals that are struggling, not only with addiction, but with any challenge that a God-made human being could be up against. I am blessed with the discretion of judgment on the lives of all individuals, knowing that I couldn't possibly begin to understand their dilemma. I have been blessed with the knowledge that the bottom line for all of us is our desire to be loved and to be included. Does this sound like a person cursed?

Jesus promised the cross to those who follow him. How blessed my cross!