Base newspaper article

I wrote this for the base newspaper. I thought I might as well post it since I haven't updated this blog since November!

“Reflect on your present blessings of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” –Charles Dickens

Recently, I was flying home after taking leave to visit extended family. While the two weeks with them had been wonderful, my family and I flew with heavy hearts. My beloved great grandmother had been taken to the hospital that very day and didn’t look like she would pull through. On top of that, my wife and I were dealing with the reality of travel with two small children and I was also trying to mentally make the transition back to work. Already I was wondering how many emails were in my inbox and how many appointments I had with Sailors in the week to come.

In the midst of this stressful day we had a short layover in Oakland during the lunch hour, but didn’t have enough time to sit down for a meal. While I watched the kids, my wife dashed over to nearby Burger King to buy us food to take on the plane. As we took off, my 2-year old daughter quickly ate her chicken nuggets and settled in to her routine of kicking the seat in front of her while whining about being strapped in to her seat. Trying to keep her from kicking with one hand, I reached down into the bag to pull out my grilled chicken salad and fished out not one, but two packages of croutons. My daughter loves croutons (yes, I know they’re not terribly healthy) so the unexpected second package was a blessing. Doling out croutons one-at-a-time I was able to keep my daughter occupied until the flight attendant came by with our drinks.

As I thought about this unexpected blessing of croutons, I was struck by how often in my own life I allow myself to be overcome by worry and stress and how infrequently I acknowledge and am grateful for the little blessings in life. Too often I live what I call a “front page” existence. Have you ever noticed how the top headlines in newspapers, or the lead stories in the television news programs are usually stress-inducers? The headlines always seem to be about something negative, whether they are about the economy, or terrorism, or the war, or some other similar topic. Sure, newspapers and television news shows often highlight a “heartwarming” story at some point, but it’s usually buried in the back pages or at the end of the newscast.

As we begin 2010, I encourage all of us to be intentional about “reading” past the negative “headlines” that dominate our own lives. Even when life seems overwhelming, as it did to me that day, I encourage each of us to be on the lookout for the unexpected blessings in life, and to be grateful for them. As we are grateful, let us too be thankful to God for watching over us and let us look for ways that we can be an unexpected blessing to our shipmates, our friends and family, and our neighbors. Godspeed!