Reality Check

Boy, there's nothing like a little journey through the blogosphere to get one's perspective back in shape. The other night I did just that. You know how it goes: you're on a friend's blog, and over to the right are other blogs they read, so you click on one, and then you find on that person's page another blog and so on and so forth. Through this labyrinth of strangers' personal lives I came across shattering examples of the fallenness of our world: a child lost to a tragic accident, babies born at 24 weeks and, a year later, still struggling to overcome the complications accompanying that, a woman widowed in her 20s, and the list could go on. Of course, there are many joyful occasions that people have blogged about out there too, but some of these more heart-wrenching stories have been sticking with me. At the risk of sounding insensitive, I just have to say in all honesty that it gave me a good dose of perspective. All of you people out there who are willing to share your stories, both pleasant and painful, help me to keep in check with reality: that life is one day at a time and at some point life will most certainly be on the more painful end of the spectrum, so these days that hold, overall, joy, should be cherished. And those things that seem so tough to me right now? Maybe handled with a little more grace and a little less whining on my blog. :)