Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Challenge of Being Fortunate

                                 

 

I am fortunate.

I have a good life.

I have a family who loves me, food to eat, a roof over my head. I am healthy and in no pain.

I have running water, more than enough to water the flowers in my garden and easily it turns hot.

I am safe, bombs are not falling from the sky.

Decisions are easy, what should I make for dinner? They are easy to ask too: "Would you like sugar in your coffee?"

I have time to blog. I have a computer and two hands.

When I had ovarian cancer, I was still fortunate I lived.

There was medicine readily available.

I had a soft bed, a toilet to throw up in and someone to hold my hand.

I had more prayers offered for me than all the prayers ever said at Notre Dame.

Chelsea who was three at the time told me, "…there are angels dancing above your head"

I had faith to believe her.

The hardest question to answer:

Why me?

Why am I generously fortunate while most of the world suffers beyond belief?

The biggest challenge is to live the gift of life, every day as lovingly as possible.

Is that too hard to do?

To pick up my harp, and play knowing others cannot?

What will I do today to share my fortune?

 

Comments

21 responses to “The Challenge of Being Fortunate”

  1. Lil

    I try to appreciate my good fortune because I know that fortune can do a flip-de-doodle at any time.

    Reply
  2. withheld

    I grew up in abject poverty. I spent many days, even weeks sleeping in a car with my mom and siblings. I often hid in my grade school bathroom because my lunch sack was empty and I knew my mom couldn’t pay the 25 cents they would charge her if they found I had no lunch. She was an Rx drug addict, my bio dad died in the back of a van waiting for the bar to reopen, I had 4 stepdads. I was abused, neglected, and worse by people who should have been trusted. I graduated high school as an alias, I never attended college.
    All of the above and more is truth. That said, I knew then as I know now, I was and continue to be extremely blessed. More so than most people on the planet. Every night I thank God for my fortune and His Grace towards me and the life I have because yes, I now have a house, family, lots of love, all the comforts of a first world woman without too much discomfort. I have everything I need and more. I pray to never forget how much I have so that it can remind me to give as much as I can spare.
    Thank you for this beautiful post.

    Reply
  3. JeanneRenee

    Je vous ai lu et en ce dimanche des Rameaux vos vies partagées tapissent la route vers la paix de nos âmes. Merci .

    Reply
  4. Ali

    You already give back, just by being you. Maybe, just maybe that’s why we all LOVE YOU….
    Ali

    Reply
  5. Jeanne

    God bless you always and your good fortune.
    We all love you so very much.
    Love Jeanne

    Reply
  6. Jennifer Phillipps

    Actually every day that you send out your blog and share your thoughts you are doing a good thing and sharing your wisdom gained from all those experiences….I for one enjoy hearing from you each and every day! Cheers. Jennifer

    Reply
  7. Susan

    Perspective is everything.
    I have been trying to focus on simple joys, and having a grateful heart. When my gaze slips, I am thankful for reminders – like this blog post, the gentle reminder to remember … and count myself blessed.
    Because I am.
    Every day is a gift.
    God bless you, Corey.

    Reply
  8. Cynthia Thompson

    More often than not I find myself wondering the same thing. I weep during morning prayers at the blessings that God has so generously showered on me. Thankful for this blog and you Corey.

    Reply
  9. Jennie

    Your fortune is shared with all of us. And angels are all around us dancing, dancing, dancing. Looking for the good around me, around us every day.

    Reply
  10. Texasfrancophile

    Profound. So many people i know need to read this. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  11. Sue J.

    A beautiful post, Corey. That Chelsea. She is an extraordinary person.

    Reply
  12. Myra

    you just did. to offer a universal uplifting message to so many every single day….now, that’s something!!! xoxo

    Reply
  13. Joan

    Today you will do what you always do – generously share your life with so many, offering us a glimpse into your thoughts and offering inspiration!

    Reply
  14. Ann of Avondale

    Every day I ask that question, “what is my purpose, what does God want of me?” and the answer I get is to be me, to keep doing what I am doing with faith, love, joy, and charity. Then I think that’s not enough, but all I can come up with is that I am a big believer of prayer and how prayer can change everything providing I have faith. So I pray first for my husband and me, then all my relatives who are ill, and then for the world at large. Always grateful for the abundance we have been given. Just be you, Corey, nothing more is expected.

    Reply
  15. LeighNZ

    You are a very giving soul Corey and always share your good fortune with others. XX

    Reply
  16. Tracy H

    Your dad knew when he told you to keep blogging Corey that it would be your contribution and a way to give back… and you are good at promises Corey. I feel the same way, why am I so lucky when others are not? People may look at my home and think, “oh it’s not that fancy, her life can’t be as good “ but the truth is my life is more than blessed than I ever could have imagined.

    Reply
  17. Tracy H

    Corey I know you are catholic, but have you ever considered reincarnation? Do you ever feel that you have been on this earth or somewhere similar before?

    Reply
  18. Marilyn

    We all must remember these things daily and know how fortunate we are. There is so much hurt in the world. I wish I could wrap the world in a comforting quilt and heal it.

    Reply
  19. Jan

    I often ask myself the same. It’s a goid way yo live. Thank you for speaking to it so beautifully.

    Reply
  20. Corey

    Dear Withheld,
    Thank you for sharing openly your life experience and the love you reaped from believing in yourself. I admire that stamina, that courage, that daring against the odds. I am equally sorry you were put in situations bearing such abuse and neglect. How did you rise above it? What gave you that strength, what made you believe in love?
    Admiration and wanting to hug you!

    Reply
  21. withheld

    Sweet Corey,
    I withheld my name because it shouldn’t be about me, but as you point out -love.
    As a little child I knew nothing of God or prayer, but without knowing to Whom or What -when I was fearful or needed help, I would *think* what I know now as a plea and prayer to God.
    I remember one particular time when I was about 6 when I was extremely afraid, and had zero power to change the circumstances, I could -literally- do nothing. I wasn’t allowed to cry out or even express what I was feeling as a child -I just had to endure and get through it without emotions, *or* I was required to actually laugh and make others laugh while in the midst of it all. Inside I cried for help, and help came. The calm came. The ability to meet that challenge came.
    There was violence, constant contention, severe neglect at times, mental and emotional abuse, and always I would go inside my head and plea for help. Sometimes it would come immediately with a knock on the door, someone my mom and her at the time husband or friends knew, had suddenly dropped by, or the time actual missionaries from a church came to see if we wanted to know more about God. I remember them looking me straight in the eye. Strangers would literally be placed in the middle of our raging storm to ask if they could borrow our phone because their car broke down in front of *our* house. Or the time 2 women from a church came by minutes after we found all of our kittens had died inside the tumbling dryer. Seeing crying children answering a door led them to help us clean it all up because all the adults had left in anger.
    God always sent reason, calm, and compassion to stop the storm. People are the way God works.
    Eventually I did learn about God. No one needed to specifically teach me He was who always showed up to break up the mayhem and pain, and there are *many* who have tried to convince me these rescues are coincidental or convenient mental gymnastics used by many abuse victims -but I can’t deny it has always been God. God is *very* real to me.
    God has placed me in so many situations where I can literally see my privilege over others who are still in bad situations. As a child I assumed my life was typical, as I grew I could see the differences, and as an adult I see vividly the lack that education, money, or simply an area code can make; we have “third world” situations in the USA, and pretty much every “first world” country -we just don’t want to see it. Why do we call them “third world”? ->because we want it removed so far from us we don’t feel the requirement to help and can live comfortably if we just look away. I don’t believe that many people “bring it on themselves”. People often choose to react in harmful ways because they have cried out to reason and justice and it has failed them. No one chooses where they will be born, we cannot blame the poor for living in a country where poverty has corrupted leadership or simply overwhelmed its population. We should all see it, we should all feel the responsibility to help -if not there, within our own communities. Just typing this I can hear my mother’s voice snapping “Quit your pity party, there is ALWAYS someone who has it worse off than you do!” She may have been cruel in her delivery, but she spoke truth. God has allowed me to clearly remember being on that side of life.
    I learned very early that when people say “Why does God allow terrible things to happen?” it is only because they don’t know they are the way God says “I cannot allow this to continue -Go do something to help.” We literally are God’s hands, but if we don’t listen the mayhem continues.
    Coming to a blog like yours where it always has hope and positivity, compassion, nature and beauty, speaking openly about God in loving ways, stories of friendship and good family -all of these are a BLESSING! Daily reminders of the good in the world is needed and necessary. “All things are meant for our good. Even the trials can benefit us if we are willing to see how it will bring us back to God.” You remind us of these good things during the trials.
    To be honest, I don’t believe in myself – I believe in a very loving and kind God.

    Reply

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