“You said I deserve just what I got. Well, if that’s how you feel, honey, thanks a lot.” – written by Eddie Miller and Don Sessions and performed by Ernest Tubb

This week marks my one-year anniversary writing a weekly column for the Leader.

For me the time has flown by. If you subjected yourself to reading this column every week for the entire year, you may believe this seems more like a five-year anniversary.

My wife reads my column every week out of a solemn sense of marital obligation. She now pitches ideas to punch up my material like she is a writer for Saturday Night Live desperate to get a sketch on this week’s show.

So far most of her ideas have been summarily dismissed, leading to occasional empty threats of writing her own competing column, but she continues to do the Lord’s work in trying to make this article more tolerable for all of you.

Whether you read this for enjoyment or you read it as a form of pious self-discipline – as if you are a modern version of a 13th-century monk – I appreciate you, beloved reader, for checking out my ramblings either way.

I certainly have had my fair share of bad opinions and will continue to have them into the future, but I hope I at least get things right a little more often than I get them wrong.

I also know you and I will disagree at times. It would be odd if we agreed 100 percent of the time. Whether we agree on a topic or not, I only hope what I write is interesting enough for you to think a little more deeply about the issue.

The world sends its messages in short bursts with no context because this requires little of your energy to absorb. Spending a few extra minutes to consider an issue from a different perspective requires greater effort on your part but gets you closer to a more complete understanding.

Your opinion may not change, but comprehending how a person could have an outlook wildly different from your own will only help you better express your own views without emotions taking over if your way of thinking is ever challenged.

I was struck recently by an opinion shared by Morgan Housel, someone I follow who officially is a writer on the economy and personal finances but more often writes on personal psychology and philosophy.

Housel wrote that in the absence of major societal problems people tend to shift their worries to smaller, less-significant problems or even imaginary problems. His idea is even if we lived in an environment with unlimited health, unlimited wealth and permanent peace, people would not automatically be happy all the time.

Instead, bigger problems that have been alleviated are replaced with smaller problems for us to fret over.

Now if you are passed over for a job promotion or another state passes a law with which you disagree or your child’s teacher has to take a six-week maternity leave, you might be more likely to view these small setbacks as risks to your family’s future well-being.

Most people just have a natural inclination to worry about the future. This is not, in itself, bad. Some level of worry keeps us prepared for what may come in the future.

I only hope we all can take a moment to appreciate the here and now. The world still has tons of problems – more than I can list here – and everyone has their own personal struggles to wrestle with, but, overall, our overreaction to public and private issues of little significance may be a sign of our prosperity.

Food and water are plentiful and available to nearly everyone. We are not at war with any country or group of people. Unemployment is low. Technological advances provide information, entertainment and creature comforts at a level our ancestors could never imagine.

I expressed a similar sentiment in my first column 12 months ago, but since I am writing to express my thankfulness to all of you, let me remind you to be grateful for your own blessings.

You will hear from many sources, including myself in this space on a lot of weeks, about how conditions in the world are not how they should be. I think it is important to think about these issues, but I also hope we all keep a healthy perspective. It is rare for the sky to be falling. Hard times will inevitably knock at your door, so enjoy the good times whenever you are able. You never know when your wife’s column will replace your own.