This week, like many others this year, and next week according to my schedule, I will be meeting with more than a few clients who are under a lot of financial stress. Conversations include these not so magic words: anti-deficiency, loan modification, foreclosure, loss of income, bankruptcy, where do we go from here. I find that I dispense tissues and hugs along with legal and financial advice. Personally, I am able to temper my sadness with the satisfaction of knowing that I am being significant in the lives of these good people in helping them bring clarity to their situation and come up with the best plan.
This weekend I got away from it all by attending the Scottsdale International Film Festival (recommend it highly). There was a Korean film that dealt with a poor North Korean man having to leave his family to work in China to afford and obtain medicine that was needed to save his wife’s life; a Bolivian film that told of the lives of modern day Andean Incan families who make their living by chopping salt blocks from a salt lake and transporting them by llamas over mountainous roads to remote villages where they bartered for needed food and clothing; a Lebanese film which shared the challenges of a split society dealing with repeated assassination of its leaders and rebuilding its cities and hope for a normal daily life; a French film dealing with mental illness; a US film with failed relationships and suicide; and an Icelandic film dealing with depression and inability to recognize one’s gifts.
It reminded me of a consult that I had with a couple that were so stressed by their financial issues that it was destroying their relationship and their ability to enjoy life. Not too long afterward, I received a call from one of them telling me that he now faced a potentially fatal medical challenge. But here is the rest of the story. He told me that once the medical challenge presented, all of the rest fell away as unimportant. That they would deal with the situation as best that might be and that in the meantime they were back together as a couple working and sharing together and that they had again opened their eyes to the beauty of the world around them.
I got to thinking less about the financial stresses in my life (like everyone else, assets and income are diminished and liabilities increased) and more about counting my blessings. I became aware again about how fortunate I am to have the things present in my life that I take for granted because they are present on a daily basis and about what challenges I do not have to face by the grace of our Creator and my step is lighter. This morning when I stepped outside to get the newspaper, not only did I throw out the financial section, I noticed how cool and bright was the morning and I took my coffee outside as I read only the hopeful things in my newspaper. Wishing you all a happy month!
Sincerely,