Gratitude (05/17/2025)

This week has been full. I had surgery on Wednesday for an incarcerated umbilical hernia. So, Monday and Tuesday were spent getting ready, doing laundry, cooking a few meals ahead, etc. Wednesday was a blur of sorts, marked by moments of pain but also moments of gentle care and authentic kindnesses. Thursday brought reminders of prayers said by friends, a meal for Kenneth, flowers, and phone calls. Yesterday brought even more thoughtfulness to my world. As I sat with the LORD this morning, all I had to offer was my gratitude for His love that I experienced in so many ways offered by so many people.

I do feel blessed as I sit here this morning, writing my blog. I did nothing to earn the kindnesses and loving gestures that I received this week. I also didn’t accomplish great things for the LORD. But as I sat on my porch this morning, brimming with gratitude, I got the feeling that the LORD was okay with that.

Gratitude is something we can all express and should. It helps us to build our humility which is necessary if we are truly to walk with Christ (deny self, pick up your cross, and follow). Gratitude, I have found is often the “secret ingredient” in the lives of people I know that I’d put in the “joyful” column. When we learn to be grateful, we begin to notice how very much is going right and how very present the LORD is to us in so many ways, often through others.

Our modern world stresses actions and accomplishments, but this morning, I’m thinking we should give the simple virtue of gratitude a longer look and a bigger place in our lives. It truly helps one to see the wonder all around us.

Thank you, LORD, for this day and for those whose lives touch mine. Thank you for the Spirit led kindnesses I experience through others, bringing You to me and me to You. Grant that I may never take for granted my life or the blessings that flow in it because of your love.

Let us all look to build our awareness of the LORD at work in us, with us, through us and in, with and through others. Let us open ourselves as fully as possible to the LORD’s loving presence to us daily. Let gratitude be a part of our lives always.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.