Hello, I hope your day is going well.
It’s the Monday after the long 2010 Thanksgiving weekend and if you’re like many folks, you didn’t want to get up this morning and go to work. That’s precisely how I felt until a gentle Voice (my God, no doubt!) prompted me to think grateful. Because in this day and age where I live many hard-working people are losing their 8-to-5 existence in Corporate America. Economic times are getting harder and harder. The men and women carrying HELP ME cardboard signs on street corners attest to this depressing fact. When I find the time to check on my 401(k) balance, I can’t help but feel relieved as I mentally scream, THANK YOU, JESUS!, if the amount grows even by a few hundred dollars. You see, for a very long time now, my retirement funds had been in a yo-yo mood. And more often than not, in the downward swing. Hopefully, yours is performing better than mine!
Just like many of my peers, I might have to slave away in the workplace much longer than I had planned. The great news is that being perpetually employed presents a never-ending opportunity for self-improvement and keeping abreast with ever changing technology. Just the sheer thought will keep me forever young!
Just like many of my peers, I might have to slave away in the workplace much longer than I had planned. The great news is that being perpetually employed presents a never-ending opportunity for self-improvement and keeping abreast with ever changing technology. Just the sheer thought will keep me forever young!
But come to think of it, our present world could be a lot worse. Stock values may have dropped, but at least, we know that the skies haven’t fallen, our trees still get green in spring time and flowers get to bloom in the gardens. Growing up, I never thought that I had a green thumb, but now that I am on the brink of my golden years, I have developed a fondness for gardens. I believe that it happened a few years after I purchased my own space where homeowners were required by the Homeowners Association to landscape their backyards. Out of necessity, I became an occasional gardener so that I didn’t have to hire a professional who might charge me an arm and a leg. In hindsight, I know that it was my God’s way of getting me close to nature so that I could learn to appreciate the beauty in my neck of the woods (the garden in my small backyard). I feel so fortunate that I can now find joy in merely looking at the fuchsia of my roses and the sweet smell from my lavenders. Not too long ago, the tiny fruits of my red chokeberry tree added vibrant colors outside my kitchen. Although now bare, the tree brought so much energy outside my patio in spring and summer when the birds frequently cheerily dropped by for a visit.
The truth is, keeping a positive frame of mind has been a blessing after a couple of years of depressing unemployment. Exactly two years after my former 15-year employer forced me into “early retirement”, my current company offered me a job I never thought I would be doing as I didn’t have the qualifications for it when I answered their ad. But because Divine Providence was involved, I found myself in a place I am really meant to be in, busy in a job I am meant to be doing! For me, it was a MIRACLE! Before that I had sent out hundreds of resumes and did more than a dozen face-to-face interviews. As it turned out, the sixteenth, not the third, was the CHARM for me! But before the job offer, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and a panic attack because if the full-time job didn’t present itself at that time, I was likely to lose my home… and my precious sanity!
I really believe that always thinking bright during that time of morose challenges and expecting better times despite the then existing reality brought me good fortune when I most needed it. It felt like finally harvesting the fruits of the seeds once sowed. Perhaps I said a prayer one too many. But I know for sure that Someone above showed me the way so that I could get to be right where I am standing now.
So if anyone out there is having a bad day… or feeling that you’re not getting what you’re wishing for… please be patient. Stay strong. And always think positive! This may sound easier said than done, but I've been there. I know that no matter how gray the time of your life is at this moment, if you learn to manifest, the bright light will come at the end of the tunnel. Say thank you, not only for getting what you’ve asked for, but more so for unanswered prayers. Chances are, the rejection is for your own protection.
Tomorrow’s a new dawn… and with it may come so much exciting promise!
