Sometimes in life, we get dealt a pretty good hand. We have wonderful children who are always well behaved, and on the honor roll. We have a wonderfully devoted husband who brings you flowers almost every night and fixes you bubble baths on Sundays to wash away your week. We have the perfect job that we have always wanted and dreamed about. A boss that is helpful and understanding, that wants to help you achieve your best. We have a cat that never misses the box and snuggles you when you are exhausted. And a dog that never chews anything up and doesn’t bark at night unless there is someone breaking in to your house!

Then you wake up to reality and realize that your kindergartener is beating up 4^th grade boys, you 3^rd grader is on the honor roll and does wonderfully in school, but has no friends and is a loner. Your husband falls through the door dog ass tired from working 13 hours a day and driving for 3 more. He kisses you on the cheek as he asks what’s for dinner. Your job is non existant or you at least wish it were due to the fact that your boss is the biggest prick that could possibly be made and would love nothing more than to see you fall on your face. Your cat sprays everything in sight and claws at the furniture. Your dog has chewed everything in sight and barks non stop at his own shadow!

Doesn’t this sound more like your life than the first option? Mine sure does. At least in parts. I have also found tho, that you have to make a good hand out of the crap you were dealt. You get 2 out of 5 over here and another 3 over there by sheer luck and voila’, you have a full house! I hate the saying… “make lemonade from lemons”! But isn’t it the truth? Sometimes you can really find happiness in all the chaos and confusion going on in your life. There have been times, where I wonder what exactly I am supposed to do with such a hand life has dealt to me. Then as I see how all the cards are falling, that maybe the “crappy” hand really isn’t crap.

Yeah, some have me beat in the game of life on the hand they were dealt, but mine is nothing to balk at! I have wonderful children who love me more than anything. They come and talk to me about their problems, boys, friends, teachers and good things that happen to them. My husband has his flaws, but fortunately for me, god made me just the way I need to be to tolerate and help us through the bad times. My cat lives outside where he should be, and is shared by all the neighbors. At least he sleeps on the porch tho so he feels like ours! The dog… well…. He ran away due to the lousy land lord that we were oh so lucky to get! But I know where he is and I know that it’s a good house and when I am ready, (like fixing the fence so he wont run off) I know these are good people that will give him back to me. For now tho, he is safe from running out in the street and getting killed.

So next time, before you jump to conclusions on other people hands in life, you might consider that maybe… just maybe… their hands aren’t so bad. It may not be the best hand you think it should be, but its what they got dealt and they are at least trying to make the best out of it. Once upon a time someone very dear to me told me “god wont give you ANYTHING he doesn’t think you can handle”. Sometimes tho, I wonder why is it that god trusts me so very much? I wish every now and then, that he didn’t have quite so much faith in me. I know that may seem to be a terrible thing to say, but have you ever wished that at some point in your life, you had been given something just a bit easier? Something that isn’t so life changing and traumatic? After all, god has the faith in you to make it through and know you will come out of it all the better.

Sometimes I find myself in a position that I sure do wish I could have been dealt someone else’s hand. It sure does look easier than mine. Seems all others have to bicker about is when husband will be home at night or what they are going to have for dinner. They seem to be dealt so much less than I ever have been. I wonder what is it about me that attract such obstacles that I have and have had in my life and these people get so little. Some people seem to just be able to coast through life with a few bumps along the way and it infuriates me that these are the same people that are so fast to jump up and point out all the pit falls in my life. To point and poke at the obstacles that I have to over come, and try to put me down for what god himself has given me. No, I may not have chosen it had he given me that option, but here I am, holding my head high and working on what he has laid before me.

The next time you feel the need to jump up and point out someone else’s pit falls, and try to tell people that they don’t have to deal with that… that there is an easier way to be… that you don’t HAVE to deal with the problems in your life to make your family better… before you do that next time, remember that not everything in life is so cut and dry. That god has laid things before these people to make them into what HE wants. Not what you want their life to be. Let the strong lead and don’t put them down for the size cross they have to bear. Yours may fit around your neck for Sunday morning mass… but they bear theirs on their back to make their life a better place. And to follow a road that god alone knows they can make it through.

“If you don’t keep your chin up… you never see the word around you!”

Till next time…

HD, Trinity, ME!