How blessed I am!

I recently wrote a blog entitled Blessings and missed blessings in which I talked about how easily I had missed the blessings I'd been given in just a few days.  This blog is about the blessings of my life.  The blessing of my parents who loved me and always did the best they could do.  The blessing of spending almost fifty-two years with my mother.  Although there were times when my mother and I struggled to get along as happens in every relationship, I never once doubted her love or that she wanted only the best for me, if only I could figure out what that was.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of having an older sister who I have come to appreciate more and more as the years pass.  A sister who had been a comfort in difficult times and a reminder that I am not alone in this world.  There is someone else who breathes the same life breath and has been created by the same love as me.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of having a brother-in-law who is so kind and generous that he would and has actually given someone the shirt off his back.  I know because I was there when he did. He didn't think what he did was such a big deal.  But it was. What an example putting others first!  How blessed I am!

The blessing of lifetime friendships that began in childhood and have withstood not just the test of time, but of distance and years without seeing each other.  None of that matters because the bonds that formed more than forty years ago will bend and stretch and bridge the miles always whenever we speak, however much time passes.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of a good education and great teachers from grade school to high school to college.  Four, my high school English teacher and three college English professors, who encouraged me to write and believed that I can.  One, my homeroom teacher, a Roman Catholic Sister, who started me on a journey to say my own "Yes!" in my own way to becoming a Sister.  Three of whom, my high school English teacher, one of my college English professors and the Sister, I am still in touch with today.  They still encourage me.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of people who walked into my life long enough to make a difference before continuing on their journeys.  Oh how much they enriched my life.  What beautifully colored threads they added to the fabric that is my life.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of Karen and the miracle of her love.  What a surprise to be with her after having not seen her for over fourteen years.  What joy when we celebrated our love and commitment to one another at our Holy Union Ceremony.  Though we only had a little over four years together before she died, moments out of a lifetime, I know those were precious moments filled with love.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of sharing my life and home with animals companions whose love knew and knows no boundaries, who place no conditions, who love without questioning.  Animal companions who have celebrated my joys and helped me through the darkest moments.  I have said goodbye to many of them,  Two are still with me.  Amazing and beautiful creatures they are and were.  How blessed I am!

The blessing of good friends, of having a job, a home and food to eat.  The blessing of being alive and able to ride my bike to work.  The blessing of finally understanding this...

Oh, yes, how blessed I am!



God bless you and keep you!
Sister Pat, FMT


Holy Mary, Mother of Creation,
bless us that we may experience God
as Love in praise of all creatures,
in love of all of creation. Amen.
Father Michael Adams - www.livingrosaries.org