Something
good happened today, and I was filled with gratitude as well as this crazy urge
to share my thoughts with everyone! :)
I have
been reminded, a lot, by people I know, of how important it is to praise and be
grateful, regardless of the situation. And that in adopting a heart of praise
and gratitude, our lives can be changed.
I’ll
be honest. It’s not the mystical enigma I thought it was for a while.
It’s
the attitude we adopt, to look upon the life we are given by God’s grace. A
while back, there was a talk about what God’s grace was – a gift we did not
deserve (funny how things we hear in the talks can fit in place and help us in
our lives huh. *hint hint* *nudge nudge* *wink wink* :P ).
Life.
By God’s grace, we were given life. A chance to discover, to journey in Christ’s
love, to know Him more and more, a chance to rehearse an eternity of heaven
with God. We were blessed with the opportunity to know Him, to know one
another, to find a community, to learn so much more about our faith and our
God. I often wonder about what could have been if I were born elsewhere, if God
had placed me in another family and if I may have never known God.
In
adopting what some call the cloak of praise and gratitude, we learn to search
for the blessings we receive by God’s grace (even something as simple as the
fact that we are here, able to see and know of the catholic church) and to
practise our faith. In fact, trying my best to praise even when I didn’t feel
like I had the heart to praise is what brought me to this day. I didn’t
understand how it works, but then someone explained it to me : it is the fact
that even as we are troubled and in a state of mind that we can barely praise
Him but still do, in trusting that He will make all right.
I’ve
seen how God has worked in my life as I learnt to do that, and the ‘chicken and
egg cycle’ it can bring about : being joyful can make you grateful just as how
the spirit of gratitude can bring you joy. Recognising the gifts we have is not
just about the clichéd way of looking upon a half-full glass and being happy
about it, in my opinion, but also about acknowledging that God Gave us this
half-full glass and being thankful for it.
And
in the joy the Lord has given me, I just wanted to share this quote I found as
well as this prayer in my heart with my close friends : my brothers and sisters
in Christ! :))
---
And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah,
that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery.
So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God.
— Saint Paul of
Tarsus (3-67 AD), I. Thessalonians 5.16-18 (54 AD)
---
Lord, I thank you for giving me
this community of friendship and love, that I could have people by my side for
the good and the bad times, as we grow together in love and faith, by Your grace.
I thank you that you never abandon us, that you brought us together to help
each and every one of us to grow, especially since a great majority of us are
alone and away from home and family.
Lord, bless those who have
graduated, as they start to enter or have entered the workforce and begin to
develop their career… as they leave behind university life as a student and
possibly a community of friends and family in beginning this new adventurous
chapter in their lives… as they grow a year older and wiser in Your love… Lord,
help them never to forget the friends they made who helped them, in one way or another,
to grow into the amazing people they are today, as well as to never forget You
who sent them friends to journey with in faith – that even if they may not
physically spend time with their friends (just as they would not physically
spend time with You) they may always keep one another in their hearts.
Also, Lord, bless those returning
(or not) to their homelands, those enjoying their holidays and the opportunity
you give us to spend more quality time with loved ones that You gave us to
remind us of how much You love us. Dear Lord, as we approach the end of another
beautiful year of knowing you and learning about ourselves and You, lead us
into yet another beautiful one.
Amen.
