A Lesson in Gratitude

When was the last time you took a look at your life and recognized the many blessings you have?

This past month I was reminded of just how many blessings I have in my life. One of my Guatemalan friends asked me to go with him to help him with some errands. Our errands ended up taking more time than we had thought, so we stopped to have lunch before heading back.

We went to my friend’s favorite restaurant to eat and got to talking. He is a few years younger than me and has four children… and a deep desire that each of his children has a better life then he has.

He shared with me how important it is that his children have a good education. He knows that a good education is critical to his vision of a better life for his children and he sits down with his kids every night to discuss and review their homework. He has even been known to make up homework exercises for his kids so that they fully grasp the content they are learning.

He then told me that he didn’t have the opportunity to go to school like his children have. He was one of a dozen children, and times were tough. The family didn’t have much money for extras beyond food and clothing, and unfortunately paying for and going to school had to move to the “extras” category. (Public school is not free in Guatemala.) He considered himself fortunate because he was able to go to…