Reece Gardner: Count your blessings instead of sheep
All you have to do to find out if people are having problems in their lives is to read "Dear Abby." There you will find out about the trials and tribulations of life, and how people deal with them. Then when we look a little deeper into things happening around us, we run across such situations as the one Bob May faced. He was depressed.
His wife was dying of cancer and his 4-year-old daughter was crying and asking why her Mommy couldn't come home. As a young boy, Bob had been smaller than most children his age and was bullied and called derogatory names; however, he went on to complete college, married a loving wife, got a job as a copywriter for Montgomery Ward, and was blessed with a beautiful little daughter.
But this happiness was short-lived. His wife Evelyn's battle with cancer took all their savings, and she died just days before Christmas of 1938. Bob and his daughter moved to a small two-room apartment in Chicago. He struggled to give hope to his child, but he couldn't even afford to buy her a Christmas gift; however, he made one - a storybook in which he created an animal creature in his mind, and he told it to his daughter many times, embellishing it more with each telling.
Who was this character and what was the story about? Well, it was actually Bob's own autobiography in fable form, a misfit outcast, a little reindeer named Rudolph, with a very shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his daughter on Christmas Day.
And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, "The rest of the story." A Montgomery Ward manager saw the book and was so impressed with it that he purchased rights to print and distribute it to all the children visiting their many stores. By 1946, 6 million copies of the book had been distributed. A major publisher purchased rights to the book and it became an instant best-seller. Johnny Marks made a song out of it, which was released in 1949 and recorded by Gene Autry.
It immediately rose to the top of the charts. And so, the gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so many years ago, kept on returning to bless him and others again and again. Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different need not be so bad.
In fact, being different can be a blessing. This story reminds me of these "Today" passages: Today, I can complain about my health, OR I can celebrate being alive; Today, I can moan that it's raining, OR I can be joyful about all that grows as a result of that rain; Today, I can regret all that I don't have, OR I can rejoice in the things that I do have;
Today, I can worry about the people who don't care for me, OR I can be happy loving and being loved by those who do. As the words to this beautiful song state so accurately, "When I'm worried, and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep COUNTING MY BLESSINGS!" Have a WONDROUS day!!
