I have just erased the beginning of a blog post I was writing about taking life as it comes.
I guess you could say that I’m taking life as it comes.
If it is meant to be, at some point in time, that thought will return, back into my consciousness. You might even have the privilege of reading it, and I will certainly enjoy writing it.
But today let’s turn our attention to our Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend.
A most fitting time for me to give thanks for all the blessings and trials in my life and to focus my attention on the art and habit of gratitude.
I think for the most part, we are all thankful and grateful for what we have, I just don’t think, we are thankful and grateful enough. Or often enough.
Our calendar offers us several gentle reminders to do so throughout the year, but the real practice of thanksgiving needs to become a daily routine; a habitual expression of our humanity.
We couldn’t have become who we are, nor will we ever get to where we are going, without the help and guidance of those wonderful souls, that come in and out of our life without much fanfare.
It truly a most human experience to be thankful. It is very humbling to be grateful.
We live in a navel gazing society, with drive through windows. Bells and pre-set working hours. Mandated breaks. Vacations. Perpetually renegotiated benefits and retirement plans. Investments. Busyness. Get a way’s. Distractions and vices.
Yes.
So many tiny, little, insignificant, and sometimes ugly, crippling, destructive, vices.
Despite of everything. Despite of where we find ourselves now, we need to gaze at what we have. We need to account for the things and the people we are thankful for.
Looking back on our deathbed will not shape our life. It is always too late.
Why?
Because life. All of life. The ups and the downs. The storms and the sunrises, are all a gift.
Everything we have in this life is borrowed or inherited. It all came from someone. It all came from the heart of someone else.
No matter how small, or how large the gesture.
Developing a grateful heart means accepting that we live in a truly abundant Universe. A universe that has enough of everything for anyone and everyone.
Yes, I can see and I am not blind to the poverty and war in the world. Our planet is full of disease and natural disasters. But we are also fortunate to have individuals who can create great wealth, in every country, at any time. Just examine the life of Oscar Schindler.
Wealth that can influence and change people for the better.
Yes, there is war, but there is also much hospitality and peace in our lands. We have some of our best minds working on eliminating diseases and helping to bring comfort to those affected by floods or hurricanes.
We are one.
We live inside the universe. Inside. I know this is so simple, yet we find it so difficult to grasp sometimes. Many people struggle because they simply choose to exist. All alone. Bitter and wanting. On the outskirts of the universe.
A solar system of one.
Some of us force the world to revolve around our desires, instead of graciously accepting the benevolent gravitational pull that life offers.
As I sit and write this, I am grateful for a great many things.
I don’t really understand why being grateful leads to happiness but it does. I have no empirical evidence to support my claim, but I can tell you with absolute conviction, that being grateful for what you have and who shares your life, opens you up to an infinite star of possibilities. It prepares the way for a meaningful future.
When I met my wife, I could not see or imagine my children. Today, I can no longer imagine my wife, without seeing my children.
I am extremely lucky to have such a beautiful and thoughtful bride. To have such loving and happy children. I will be forever thankful to my parents for bringing us to a country of possibility and peace.
I am grateful to stand on the shoulders of giants.
I am thankful I can see.
I am grateful to have had the experience of everything that has come my way.
I have stood at the gates of Heaven through the many joys in life, but I also understood the cost of living, by experiencing and embracing pain.
I urge you, on this beautiful Thanksgiving Monday, to make a simple list.
Do it as soon as you stop reading this.
Don’t wait.
Be grateful.
Be thankful for everything you have. Imperfect and wanting as it may be.
Don’t wait for tomorrow.
Our abundant God, or whatever force you believe or don’t believe in, will bring you more to be thankful for tomorrow.
So, don’t waste today.
Embrace it.
Give thanks.
Feel gratitude.
Share it out loud.
