Yesterday I decided I finally needed to buy something to pack up what I am going to try and store here in the States so it was off to Wal Mart. But, as I was hungry I swung by McDonalds and grabbed a few items off their Dollar Menu.
Now before you judge me for being a fast food fatty and a slave to corporate American, chain store conglomerates let me explain! Since finding out I would be going to Ukraine I’ve been taking time to enjoy all the things that I spend too much time taking for granted.
I learned the lesson to appreciate what I have and where I live the hard way.
I would say a majority of the time I spent growing up in the UK was spent wishing I could move to the States. I was so dissatisfied with my station in life that I didn’t take any time to really appreciate the opportunity I had to live in another country. Let alone the UK?!?! I have friends here that would give their right arm to live in the UK for even half that time! And yet I spent my time griping and complaining about everything. And it wasn’t until I spent just a short time in the States that I started to wish I had appreciated what I had a little more; wished I had soaked in the beauty of living in England for all those years!
Well now I’m (a bit) older and (just slightly) wiser.
I have come to understand the value of living and loving fully and completely where you’re at! So while even now I take SO MUCH for granted, and don’t always stop to take in the beauty and blessing of where I’m at, I’m trying.
Soon I won’t be able to swing into a drive through and order whatever I want. I won’t be able to walk into a store in which I know where everything is and know that it has everything I need. I won’t be able to communicate clearly, and perfectly. And most of my time will be spent constantly making cultural evaluations, assessments and over analyzing ever little thing I do and say so as not to stick out too much or be overly conspicuous.
So as I sat in the Walmart parking lot chowing down on my McDonalds dollar menu I took some time to stop and be so thankful for exactly where I’m at; to soak in the beauty of the moment and realize that I love where I’m at. I’m happy and content with all the fantastic things around me and also knowing that I won’t always have them. And that’s ok.
Some good things fade away, but they are always replaced by more good things. But if we’re so focused on the good things we’ve lost, we’ll miss out on the good things all around us right now!
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