THE THINGS THAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING FOR

Last night I went to a neighborhood mart to pick up some groceries for dinner. And while I was at the counter about to pay for what I bought, I overheard another cashier telling the man standing next to me that his bill was in the excess of fifty thousand naira.

Out of curiosity, I looked closely to see ‎what this man had purchased to rake up such an amount in a neighborhood mart with the current state of the economy. I could see nothing but a few items that were neatly tucked in a medium paper bag. What in the world could cost so much.

I kept thinking of the numerous things that fifty thousand naira would afford. But wait, I don't even spend that much for my shopping in a whole month. And to the best of my knowledge, the neighborhood mart don't sell luxury items. I just couldn't hold it anymore, so I had to ask the cashier who I happen to be familiar with from my months of frequenting the mart.

She disclosed that the man was suffering from an undisclosed ailment and ‎he was a regular at the shop. He mostly came to purchase drugs that were recommended for his treatment and they were usually expensive. That was all the cashier knew but then that was all I needed to know.

So it got me thinking, when was the last time I spent money on drugs? That would be in March 2013 when I had a minor accident. And before that, it would be as far back as 2005 when I became ill during an examination at the university. My friends are always amazed when I tell them the story of my drug free life.

Now this is where am going with all of this. Sometimes we reflect more on our troubles of which we only have some rather than on our blessings, of which we all have plenty. We do not know how lucky we are until we walk into a mart to buy groceries worth five thousand naira ‎only to find out the next person is buying drugs worth ten times more. That was when we start to see our lives more differently. 

I kept wondering what my life would have been if I had to spend so much money to stay alive. Some people like the man I met at the mart, spend a fortune to be normal and do the things that normal people do effortlessly. Yet we keep complaining that the amazing life that God has bestowed on us is not enough. Not realizing for a second how incredibly blessed we are. That the things we think we lack are far less comparable to the abundance that God has afforded us. 

I stopped judging my life based on the things I couldn't afford and started to see the things that God has afforded me by his grace and mercy. That if not for his divine protection, I could well have not been able to afford the seemingly little that I now boast of. ‎That all I need to stay alive was tomato and not aspirin and thus; 

I have replaced all my worries for gratitude.
And count my blessings instead of my sufferings.
Looked more at what I have gained than what I have lost.
Beheld my joys and looked down at my woes.
Put on my smiles and shut off my tears.
Count my courage instead of my fears.
Calculate my health instead of my wealth.
And count more on God and less on myself.

#HappiestManInTheWorld