I am very blessed

In our society it is so easy to take so much for granted. We often feel we need more and don't realize what we have around us is all a blessing. I have been trying to reason with this concept and work to feel at peace and content with where I am in life. I could rattle off a list of fifty things I'd like to buy, things that I'd tell you would make me happy. The list could go on for a long time, but looking around I feel ashamed for wanting more. Yes, I live in an apartment, but I have a roof over my head. Yes, we only have one car with air conditioning, but we have three vehicles to get us where we need to go... and we can afford the gas to take us there. Yes, I may wish for a different job, but I have one that puts food on my table, clothes on my back and provides my family with health insurance. Yes, our vacations are kept to a minimum and we don't go anywhere exotic or amazing, but we are saving our money and working to make that happen someday. Yes, many of my clothes are a bit outdated and I do not buy the best of anything, but I have a closet full of clothing to wear and keep me warm. Yes, yes, and yes, I am very blessed.

I am not starving.
I am warm in the winter.
I am cool in the summer.
I have a place to sleep.
I have a place to come home to.
I have so much that I am ashamed to want more, but often do.

If we could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the human ratio's remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

THERE WOULD BE:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North & South
8 Africans

52 would be female
48 would be male

70 would be non-white
30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States

80 would be living in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death - 1 would be near birth

1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding, and education becomes glaringly apparent.

The following is also something to ponder...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.