Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Take one thing with another, and the world is a pretty good sort of a world, and tis our duty to make the best of it and be thankful. Benjamin Franklin
People are gathering in their homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. We give thanks for the bounty and blessings we’ve received. Is it as easy to give thanks as to complain? Isn’t there always something that is not quite right we can complain about, but blessings flow to us daily?
Isn’t it a blessing when we turn on the tap, flush the toilet, open our fridge, and start our vehicle? We pick up our phone, turn on the computer or TV, and are connected to the world. Life has probably never been so simple, we don’t have to lay up stores for the winter like long ago when if we didn’t have enough, death was certain.
We don’t have to spend all our waking hours hunting for food. We have time for pastimes, reading, learning, and discussing world affairs. Do we see a cup half full or a cup half empty? Are we part of the problem or part of the solution? Are we waiting for someone else to do what needs to be done or are we getting in there and making the best of what there is?
We may think we should have made better decisions throughout our life, or just different ones, life might not have turned out how we thought it would, but life isn’t so much planned as meandered through in many ways. If we’ve seen the movie “Up” it was a good analogy of how life works. Something comes along to derail our plans. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make plans, but we need flexibility.
When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. G.K. Chesterton
As life twists and turns is cultivating an attitude of gratitude the best thing we can do? Does it make a difference if we are grateful for the blessings and challenges of life? It’s easy to be grateful for the blessings, the challenges not so much, but facing challenges is where growth lies, and when we meet people who have faced many challenges we are often impressed with who they’ve become. We wouldn’t want to face those challenges ourselves, but aren’t we impressed, and just like coal under immense pressure becomes a diamond perhaps pressure on people turns them into people who sparkle with life, character, and gratitude.
What if we start life as an old lump of coal but could be a diamond someday? Sweet old people who have faced the challenges in life are a joy to be around. They have wonderful stories, insights into life, and an encouraging way about them. They are givers, encouragers, supporters, and uplift those around them.
Who can we uplift, encourage, and support? Times will get hard, situations seem impossible to overcome, relationships may seem beyond repair and if we give up they will stay that way, but what if we don’t give up, what if we keep dealing with the hardships, we keep trying to make peace, we keep looking for common ground, and we look for a way to make things better?
What if in the end, we come out the other side and things are better, the road behind us is rougher than the road ahead of us. Will we be grateful for persevering and being steadfast? Will we have taught our children and grandchildren the benefit of not giving up? In most stories there is a point where the character thinks they can’t go on, what is the use, defeat is sure, but if they continue, though they pay a heavy price they are rewarded in some way.
We all have a story, and we can’t go back and change the beginning, but what if the ending is in a good part up to us?
Being grateful does not mean that everything is necessarily good. It just means that you can accept it as a gift. Roy T. Bennett
The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for. Norman Vincent Peale
Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have. Sanchita Pandey
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
