There’s no end to human wants;
Today’s surplus falls short tomorrow
Wants pile and muddle our needs
Time turns full stop to question marks
Transforming fruits of contentment
To seeds of discord, answered prayers
Lost in stacks of disappointed hope
And gratitude buried beneath it all
Leaves us listless, restless: ungracious.
Ungrateful, we take too much for granted
And sink boats of opportunities.
No matter where we find ourselves, there is always something to be thankful for. If we haven’t seen it, it’s because we haven’t looked for it. And we really don’t have to look far or hard to find something to be grateful for; the fact that we are alive is more than enough in a world where people are dying every second and funeral homes hardly run out of business.
Life can be a lethargic process where we have little or no choice in what comes and what goes. Life can be a list of endless activities that leave no time for release and refreshment, leaving us wound up, irritable and restless. It can be a stream that flows, sometimes calm and sometimes rough as we learn to swim along, taking what we get and turning them into what we can. Life can be anything for any and every one of us – even those subjected under same circumstances end up with different results. Why? A lot depends on what we do with what we get. At the end of the day, it is not just about what life served us but of what we make of what we are served.
There is not one person life serves all sweets and no bitters. As the earth rotates, so things come and go, going up and down, shifting here and there, for every one of us. Changes happen to all of us. Same changes, occurring in varying ways and at different times. We are all subject to the hassles and tussles of life. What distinguishes us is what we make of each turn of event we encounter. What we make of each depends on how we address it. How we leave it depends on how we approach it. What we give depends on how we see it. How we see it depends on where we stand as we view. And where we stand depends on the state of our heart. And guess what? What we see is often what we get.
Nothing extinguishes opportunities like ingratitude. It puts us in the wrong place so that no matter how right and ripe opportunities are, we never can deliver the right action because our attitude is wrong, our perception is faulty and those drive the deeds that determine the results. It is shocking how much difference waking up on the side of ungratefulness and on the side of thankfulness makes to our personalities, our responses and subsequently, to our days. I have been privileged to wake up on both sides on different occasions and I choose the side of thankfulness.
Thankfulness works no magic and mysteries but it sure repositions us to face our realities. It might not make the problems disappear but like light, it shifts gathering clouds. It lifts invisible weights and allows us to spring through the day no matter its challenges. It takes our eyes away from all that is not working, focuses them on what can work so we can give it our best in order to make progress where others are stuck. It adds a kick to our waking up, enabling us to greet people with smiles that defy our experiences, to meet challenges with wisdom that beats our circumstances, and to recognize and key into opportunities which many miss. The very reasons ingratitude uses to drag us farther down, gratitude exploits to prep us to make the best of what is not so good and emerge better than we entered. In view of these, permit me to say to you as I say to myself, “Just be Thankful!”
Glory!