Reality Checks

I was standing in line this week and my heart dropped when I looked over and saw this image headlining the newspaper. 

The thing is, I would say that I know how blessed I am/we are. 

I get it. 

But do I?  

Because then a photograph of a sleeping child on the sidewalk outside of a Nepal hospital hits me like a punch to the stomach. There's no room for him inside the actual hospital because it's overrun with victims of their earthquake 

What if that were my injured child or my friends child who's only hope for recovery is on a sidewalk outside. 

My mind trying to process what my heart can't fathom, I stared at that little boy so intently and long that it took the clerk & another customer to beckon me to the cash register. 

It's so easy to feel overwhelmed at life's struggles and circumstances. To become absorbed into our own world of problems.  

But take a look around. 

Just one glance at the globe brings a perspective that I hope pushes me to always live above and beyond myself. 

That quote was on a blog I follow and it was parallel to the thoughts I wrestle with in reading the news. My hope is that I  always bring myself back to this mindset.