We have counted on so many things day in and day out that we seldom gave a second thought. Suddenly, we are acutely aware of how much we've taken for granted, still take for granted. We count on people we love to be there for us, our work to provide income, medicine to regulate our health, public safety . . . .

It reminded me that my foundation can not be taken away. It answered all the questions.

Even when we've been disappointed in love, or lost our jobs, or battled unknown illnesses, we remained confident in the world we live in and the basic fabric of daily life. Now that we are facing so much uncertainty in our world at large, we search closer to home for what we can count on in our daily lives.

I am more grateful today to have a husband I can count on, family and friends, work that I love doing, and basic health, than I was just a few months and a lifetime ago. I think I appreciate each more, knowing that there are no guarantees that I will have all this tomorrow, making it just that much more precious today. I know now that in the end, regardless of whether or not I am surrounded by family and friends, I have just myself and my God. Everything else is a gift.

Recently, someone emailed me a piece attributed to Mother Theresa and I found it very comforting. It reminded me that my foundation can not be taken away. It answered all the questions.

This poem was written by Mother Teresa...
it is engraved on the wall of her home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends
and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God,
It never was between you and them anyway.

 - Mother Teresa

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.