Why Me?

We often ask "Why me?"  I know for me, it's normally in instances like, I just missed the bus, and the next one's not for another 16 minutes.  I ask, "Grr, why ME?  Why did I have to miss that bus?" 

Or, when I lived in America, and I'd be speeding, but everyone was speeding. Then the cop would pull me over.  "Ah, why'd he pick me when everyone else was going just as fast??  (or even faster, it seemed)" 

Why did the tickets sell out just before I got to the ticket window? 

You can fill in the blanks with your own particular situation, but we ask "Why ME?" in many different forms, but it seems to happen often.  (My most recent, why did I have to get this crazy landlord lady?)

Well, I think in all of those situations, there is something we're meant to learn... but I'm not going there right now.

Tonight, I was sitting in my apartment in Paris thinking "Why me?"  But these "why me" questions were slightly different, here's a peak:
  * Why did I spend my life DREAMING of living in Paris and now I DO!!!
  * Why did my mom take that invitation to go on a trip to Europe when I was 17 out of the trash and make me go?  (And from there, my determination to be in Europe took on a whole new meaning.)
  * Why do I have such amazing friends that can ask the hard questions and give me the hard answers to mine?
  * Why do I get to speak this amazing language with people in this beautiful country?  Why did I get to learn it when others struggle so much with learning French?  Of course, I still have quite a ways to go, but I can see such benefits from living with a French girl my first year here who "didn't speak any Engish at all."
  * Why do I have this amazing job where I walk into the office of some of the more powerful business men in Paris and I become the authority because I'm there to teach them English.
  * Why did I have this amazing fortune to be born in America and learn English as a first language, and not have to struggle with it like my friends and students do over here!
  * Why have I never gone hungry a day in my life?
  * Why have I never spent a night in the street?

WHY ME?

So, now and for the future, when I start to think "Why me,"  I want to turn my focus around on myself and realize the amazing blessings that I have in my life.  There's no more reason for it to be me who's never gone hungry than it is to be me who's just missed the bus.  And when I put those two things next to each other, I see that the blessings FAR outweigh the lack!  I don't know the answer to "Why me" in most of these situations.  But now, I am going to choose to see the blessings!