YES, I AM
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward
Well, hello again friends and fellow readers. Yes, it’s me, back to share a few more nuggets with you. I pray that during my absence you have been living life well, and that your year is off to a good start. As I sat in meditation today, it occurred to me that each morning I say a litany of things for which I am grateful. But then I had to pause. Yes, I am grateful, but how much of it is just ritual. I read this quote by Max Lucado, and I am compelled to share it with you.
“Gratitude lifts our eyes off the things that we lack so we might see the blessings we possess.”
We have entered a new year, and we should consider each day with a new awareness. Yesterday was, today is, and tomorrow may be. What am I trying to say? Just that as God has sustained us throughout the night, with His angels keeping watch, we should be bursting with gratitude. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul gave us these words: “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Yes, I am grateful, and I never want to take for granted any of my blessings. I can get out of bed on my own and walk around, because I still have the activity of my limbs. I was recently reminded that not everyone is able to do that. My sister has been sick for quite some time, and she is now unable to walk. Her lower extremities have weakened to the point that she has no strength to move her legs. But whenever I talk to her, she always tells me that God is good.
Wow! I’m able to get up, move about, and go where I need to go unassisted by man, and sometimes I find myself grumbling. I don’t like to go to the grocery store anymore. Why!? I just don’t. But that thought just gives me one more reason to be grateful. I am able to go to the store, I have the resources to get what I need. God has blessed me with health and provision. Yes, I am…truly blessed and so are you.
When you come to that point in your life where you are feeling a little, I don’t know, ungrateful, just walk yourself over to that old mirror, look yourself in the eyes, and say, Lord, forgive me, for acting ungrateful, because I really am grateful.
Well, that’s it for this time my friends. We’ll talk again later. In the meantime, I wish you love, joy, peace, and patience. Until then may you be blessed.
“Solitude is the sanctuary where gratitude is awakened, where we can truly recognize the blessings that life has bestowed upon us.”
—Albert Schweitzer
BARBARA G.