“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thes. 5:18)
Today I awoke to the sound of my heater kicking on, warming my home on this cold Spring morning. Today when I bent down to put a lease on my dog for his walk he nuzzled his head up against my leg to be petted. Today when I walked outside I saw the sun rising above the trees and bathing the world in its golden light. Today my oldest son walked up to me with a cheerful “Good morning, Dad!” and gave me a hug. Today my youngest son started his day as he usually does with a big smile and a bigger laugh. Today my breakfast of warm oatmeal and hot coffee made my belly feel full and my insides feel toasty. Today as I was doing my morning exercises I realized that I hadn’t thanked God for any of these things that had happened this morning. I quickly remedied that situation and suddenly felt the powerful love of God filling my heart and expanding my soul. I thanked God again for His glorious love and promised to love too with all of my heart.
The truth is that I have spent far too much of my life here focused on the wrong list. I am talking about my wish list. It is the list I wanted to achieve for my life to be the way I wanted it to be. It led to anger, frustration, jealousy, and guilt. It made me constantly compare my life to some ideal and not enjoy the life I had been given. These days I am trying more and more to live from the right list, the thankfulness list. I am accepting life as it is and seeing the countless, loving, blessings that our Heavenly Father gives us each day. It is leading me to more joy, peace, kindness, and love than I have ever known. It is helping me live the life I was meant to live.
It is fine to work to achieve your wishes in this life, but don’t forget to count and cherish your blessings as well. God loves us so much and He wants us to be happy and grateful in our lives here. May we all turn our lives into one big Thank-You then. May we all live with love and joy.
Joseph J. Mazzella