Life with Andrea

Having less, and enjoying more

Almost losing something is a wonderful way to appreciate it. Garrison Keillor said that almost getting caught is the best guard against cheating (or stealing), and went on to tell a story about a teacher who almost “got caught” with his hand in the cookie (or concessions) jar. When I had my surgery last spring, I was thinking that almost dying is the best way to appreciate living. And this weekend I was sick. But the morning I woke up and felt somewhat better, I was reminded again that life is ok, and that it is better to be well than sick. Perhaps that’s why we get sick – so that we can be reminded that being well is better. Thus we know it is good to be alive.

Consider, one gets used to anything. We Americans are so jaded – having a wonderful lifestyle, and yet wanting more. We believe we deserve what we have, and constantly search for better. We’ve gotten used to more luxury than our ancestors could have dreamed of. And our health is good. We don’t have toothaches, we don’t have asthma, we don’t suffer from poorly set bones all our lives. We’re warm and well fed (by and large). But rather than appreciate these things, we take them for granted. It requires something that makes us miserable for us to see the joys we have.

It is not in what we have, but in its relative position, that we are blessed. The juxtaposition of our health and recent illness, of our comfortable married life and our neighbor’s noisy divorce, of the dreadful situation in the book we are reading and the life we live.

Obviously, I must live a comfortable life to say this. But, consider that there is always someone worse off – I may be no more comfortable than you, just one step more comfortable than someone else. It is in recognizing our place in the world – a place with aspiration, but also with benefits – that we can draw joy.

The photo is across Douglas Falls bridge in the winter. There are always opportunities.

# posted by Life with Andrea @ 3:32 PM