Hard Times?

Many people are experiencing hard times. Due to economic or other reasons, many have lost something. Might have been some of their "stuff". Might have been their jobs. Might have been everything. Maybe those times are looming around the corner. I've been there. I know the feeling. It can be daunting.

Five years ago this year, I turned my back on everything familiar - due to being victimized for many years. I left everything I knew and had, and proceeded to start a new life. I had close to nothing. My 4-cylinder S-10 truck, a couple changes of clothes (literally) and my computer. That's it, nothing else. For years prior to this, I had at least two, and as many as 3 new vehicles at a time, owned my land and home free and clear, had a job that paid over $25.00 an hour, had all the necessary tools of my trade as an industrial electrician, had some very expensive guns, a garage full of hand and power tools, you name it. I "had it all", including good credit. All of a sudden, I had none of it. Ya know what? All that stuff doesn't mean a thing. I don't miss it at all.

At the time I left my old world, I didn't know anything about my future. It could have been a really scary time. I didn't know where I would end up when I stopped driving. I didn't have a job, nor did I know if I could get one very soon. As overwhelming as it could have been, I stayed focused and listened to my heart. I felt that all would work out - in time. I kept my faith. I quickly learned what was important - and it isn't "things". The important things aren't what you can see on the outside, but what you have on the inside.

I was lucky enough to have real friends all across the country - from Connecticut to Alaska, from Southern Florida to Chicago, and points in between. Several of them offered to give me refuge until I could get on my feet. One offered financial help, but I refused. I chose to contact my friends closest to "as far as I could get, and that nobody would expect I would go there". They put me up, and made sure I had a roof over my head and food in my mouth until I got a job and started paying my own way. No, they weren't rich by any means. They were "just people" who sometimes struggled to make it month to month - people with good hearts and souls. (I thank God for them every day.)

In two weeks, I was working at a real job. Didn't pay much, but it was a job - income. As the years passed, I got "things" again, slowly but surely. Not the same kind of things I had before, but different kinds of things. I got craft things so I would have something constructive to utilize my free time. I enjoy leather crafting. I got photography things, cheap ones at first but it slowly became some fairly decent "stuff". After about three years, I had all I really wanted as far as "things" goes. I was even able to buy a new (used) car on my own credit. Now as of a little over a month ago, I have a beautiful wife whose wants and needs are the same as mine, someone to spend the rest of my life with in perfect harmony.

If you are among those having it rough economically now, who have lost your job or your "stuff", take heart. You will be fine. This too will pass. I have lost all of that and have emerged above it, and so can you. No, I don't have a $25.00 and hour job any more - less than half that, actually. I don't have all those new cars/trucks/4WD's. I don't have a garage full of tools. What I do have is all that is important - and it's inside me. Things didn't give it to me. I have the love of a wonderful wife. I have an inner peace that cannot be destroyed or lost. I am happy. You can have it all, too. Yes, that is "all". It's all that matters. If you have inner peace and count your blessings as you go you will come out on top.

Things are not important. They come and go all the time. They can't make you happy. You just think they can. What is important, is what lasts forever - it's what is (or should be) in your heart. Love.

Count your blessings.
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