What's In Your Bucket?

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A few days before Christmas, as I stood in a long line with other Christmas shopping procrastinators, I heard the words of a grandmother using the time for a teachable moment. Her pre-teen grandaughter was obviously disappointed that some product was not available. The grandmother said, "Dear, what's in your bucket? We all have two buckets we can carry around with us. One has all the blessings we've received. The other has all the balogna that life throws at us." (Actually she said b.s., but I changed it to balogna.) "If you continue to dwell on the balogna, you completely forget that you also have a bucket of blessings. And usually that bucket is full to overflowing." I thought those were intriguing thoughts, and the grandma was wise to talk with her grandaughter while she had a captive audience. She also spoke loud enough for those around her to hear, so the message was one offered to others who would listen. I did. As I stood there, I realized how right that grandmother was with her assessment of life. We do usually have more blessings than balogna. The year 2008 has had both blessings and balogna in it for me. I lost my brother and an aunt this year. My health has not gotten any better, and once again I was denied disability and my attorney has to prepare another appeal. But my hubby's work was in the midst of changing retirement plans when the financial mess started happening around us, so the money was socked away during the change and no money was lost in the transition. The change made us realize how much money was in the account, and we were able to withdraw some to pay off bills. For the first time in many years - probably since my hubby was a young man - he has no car payment. My hubby received the usual raise this year again - nothing fantastic, mind you, but a raise nevertheless. We are blessed that he has a good job and that his company has never laid off anyone in it's long history. We have close and extended family members who love us. We belong to a church that we and hubby's 12 year old daughter love. We live in a neighborhood with very little crime. Yes, the value of our home went down like others around the country. But it also went back up a bit by the end of the year. All in all, we do have more blessings than balogna. I think I'll start carrying my blessing bucket with me, so that I can see the blessings we've already received and so that I can be ready to catch new ones. So how about you? Are you carrying around your balogna bucket? Or your blessing bucket? Has 2008 been mostly bad for you, or more good than bad?