Count your blessings . . .

Just when you think you can't do one more thing or take on one more challenge -- just stop and look around. There is always someone, somewhere, whose challenges are far more difficult.

• A young parent came to my office this morning needing some help with a school document she needed for a credential from the Mexican Consulate. She dropped out of high school at 16, had a baby who has been very ill since birth. He is now 5 and not much taller than Elliott. His little legs are so skinny, they look like just walking could break them. He had a breathing device around his throat and terrible scars on his left arm. His lower lip and chin were somehow molded together. I helped her, and sent her on her way.


• Late tonight I got a phone call about one of the senior sisters in our ward -- Grandma Carol. She had hip replacement surgery a week ago today and has been recovering very well in a rehab center. However, she had a seizure sometime today and fell. She pretty much destroyed her hip replacement and broke her pelvis, severely. Rather than a return home in a couple of days, she is now in a hospital facing surgery and a very long recovery.

I am very blessed and I think of my blessings every hour of every day -- family, good health, nice home, spiritual significance, excellent job, and more! I am reminded tonight of a song from White Christmas called "Counting My Blessings Instead of Sheep" --- When I am worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep, counting my blessings. When my bankroll is getting small, I think of when I had none at all, and I fall asleep, counting my blessings . . . It's a simple little song, but has a big strong meaning.

(Music and lyrics by Irving Belin, 1954 -- the year I was born -- it was sung in White Christmas as a duet by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.)