Guts, Grace, or Glück--Nobody Rides for Free

Who knows what hardships are on the minds of even the people closest to you? Sometimes friends and family will share the troubles they are facing, and you can choose to act or pray or console or hope or cross your fingers, whatever you choose to do to for people you care about in hard times. I know people facing heart surgery for their premature baby, people who have had family die recently, people with an ailing infant, people struggling with a troubled child, people watching a family member recover, people facing the prospect of difficult, life-changing decisions. And yet, for those who don't know, these same people put on faces to meet the world, going about their daily routines as though the world is a moving sidewalk for them, a piece of ripe fruit. What keeps them going? All of them are hoping for good things, but only some will get what they wish for, and there's nothing visible that helps us see what draws the line between those given the gifts they wish for, and those whose wishes are lost. They carry their burdens because that's what they have to do. My own experience? Some of both, both kinds of luck. I try to count the forms of good fortune that have come my way, keeping a good tally and being mindful, and I bow my head at the memory of losses, my own and others'. You know who you are.