One thing my Mom used to always tell me growing up is that “God sends his angels”. I have spent the better part of two days in Indianapolis doing strategic planning workouts. Basically it ranks right up there with a root canal or final exams. It’s high stress and mind crushing all wrapped into one. So you can imagine my mental state when the following exchange took place with a woman that was cleaning out the trash cans in our office.

Me: “Hello, how are you?”

Her: “You know, I am BLESSED!”

Me: (speechless….)

Understand, she wasn’t saying a statement full of sarcasm. She said it with conviction and she meant every single word of it. Here I am stressing and wrestling over huge decisions. I’m wishing I could be anywhere else. Out of nowhere, someone I can only describe as an angel walks in pushing her cleaning cart. Her spirit lights up the room and she says those simple words….”I am BLESSED”.

So often we say what we think we have to say (like “hello, how are you doing”) only to get what they think they are supposed to say back (“I’m good, and you?”). Never have I had someone who had every right to complain, look me in the eye, with joy in her heart and say she was blessed. It rocked my socks and changed my day. Her joy and true thankfulness blessed me today.

So if someone would have asked me after that “how are you”, I would have easily said, “I am BLESSED”.

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