Did you forget?

Dear Readers,

I love this...I'm starting to get feedback and questions by the handful! Thank you SOOOO much for your questions and responses! I LOVE YOU!

George (fictitious) writs:

"Dear Truth,

For quite sometime now I have been burdened with heavy expenses and a personal situation that has been unbearable. There are things that overwhelm me, family members that come to me for help - and I can't help them, and I feel so lost and helpless. I used to be of a solid financial status that allowed me to help all of my kids with their financial needs and now I can't even provide for myself or my spouse. Luckily, I have a family member that has taken me and my spouse into their home for an indefinate amount of time, but I feel so guilty that I can't contribute to the household fund.....What do I do? I am so blessed but feel so wrought and sad. I want to continue helping but I cant. Please offer me a suggestion!

Sincerely,
George"

Dear George:

First of all....SMILE! There is hope for you! You sound like a man that has been blessed for so many years to be able to reach out to people and shore them up (yes - to shore is to stabilize a wall on a ship when it has had damage and is flooding) until the waters receeded and they could carry on. It sounds like you have been a life preserver and a rescuer for your family who looks up to you and adores everything about you! How fortunate are you that God has now blessed your life with someone who has the ways and means to shore you up and be your life preserver? I am ASS-U-ME'ing that you are staying with family now in your time of need. George...what comes around goes around and I'm sure that whomever took you in, whomever is creating that household fund FOR YOU, loves you very much. God has blessed them abundantly so that they can, in return, bless you as well. My advice to you, dear sir, is to take one deep breath. Go ahead...innnnnnnnnnnnnnn hold and reeeleasssssssse nice and slow....that a' way! Now listen to me. coming from someone who is in a similar situation...sort of...blessings come from left field sometimes. It isn't up to us to wonder why, or what can I do, or am I enough. It is God's way of letting you know that YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. You have been the KING of your family and world for so long, it might be time to pass the crown. Allow your caretakers to coddle and love you. Allow them to nurture you and give you what you need. You need not feel guilty for accepting someone's kindness. Someone once told me that guilt is a wasted emotion. I mostly believe this. Guilt allows us to know when we have done something wrong and most of us take the next step, which is taking responsibility and apologizing to make things right. You, dearest George, have done NOTHING wrong! You have helped your family, you have reached out to be the blessing time and time again and now it is your turn to accept gifts in return. That's all! That simple! Many people are so terribly worried about this recession we are in! But look at our households nowadays...more and more parents are moving in with their children or other relatives. More and more college students are staying home longer. Think about what times were like WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY back when. Isn't that the way families USED to be before greed took over our social climate? Families lived together their whole lives! Mommies and Daddies took care of their children until they were married, then the children took care of the mommies and daddies! We have now returned to that way of life because of....a recession? Seriously? That is the way it should have always been and just maybe, God is MAKING it that way again. Today's society is so full of technology, emotionless emails and texts, that something had to have happened to reconnect people. So all in all....you have not lost anything, dear George, you are loved and well taken care of and should just bask in the blessings! Everyone needs help from time to time and good for you for being such a wonderful person to have given that out when you could and that someone now WANTS to give it back to you. So you have nothing to feel guilty for! You've done nothing wrong, no apologies needed, you are simply blessed with people who love you without strings attached! How wonderful!

I do have one piece of advice for you...shake that guilt!! It serves no one but the enemy. You are rich in love and life. Close your eyes and bathe in that for just a few minutes. Allow that love to wash over you always and know that you deserve it! There is a reason your family loves you so much. Embrace that instead of the what-ifs or if I could only's. Live your life...love your life...the people IN your life sure love you! And that...is the Butt Ugly Truth!