Losing Sight of the Forest

Today I find myself in a weird spot...I'm watching the children of a friend of mine...she's in the Pacific NW for a funeral, and between work schedules, and cost of travel, her husband stayed here with their 2 little ones, but didn't take the workdays off.  A couple of us volunteered to take the kids while he was working.  It's nothing, really...my kids are friends with her kids.  We hang out often...but all the little bitty things about their personalities that are not how I want my kids to act are grating on me today...all those little nasties that we don't want people to notice and comment upon in ourselves or our children?  Yup...all those little things.

Another friend of mine posted a vent about laundry - how does one sort, and how does one teach and train another to do it "my way"?  In the comments, another friend, recently transplanted to Central America, commented upon the luxury of her clothes dryer and how the rest of the neighborhood (affluent though it is) looks like "laundry-henge" when everyone washes their clothes because hardly anyone has a dryer...

Yet another friend posted on their weekend adventures, celebrations, and reflections on how she is handling her world right now...

Then I realized that I'm losing sight of the forest, because of the trees...

That time when you are so focused on a few specific things that you can't remember where you're headed, why you're there, and what the end result will be like...

I took a deep breath, and realized just how incredibly fortunate I am.  I had a set of parents that weren't just talking about how they wanted us to be, they modeled it.  We had great Sunday School and regular school teachers that lived passion and excitement about their callings.  We lived in a safe house with a place to play, had plenty to eat, wear, read, and play with.  I was able to attend college at no out-of-my-own-pockets money spent because my parents knew how hard that was, and were able to make it easier on my brothers and I...I have a fabulous husband, that works an amazing job that he loves, for which he is handsomely compensated, we enjoy ridiculously good health, my children are free from troubles of any kind...we have good schools, lots of things to do and places to go for free...

All in all, my forest is more like a luxury resort...and for that, I'm incredibly grateful...