The word thankyou can be one of those words that is just thrown around in todays society. Other words that are thrown around are "I love you" and "I'm sorry." Many of us say thankyou out of good manners and respect, and also to make us seem like people with polite personalities. But how many of us actually say thankyou and mean it from the bottom of our hearts? True thankfulness is where you acknowledge the wonderful people, things and places that make up your reality. True thankfulness stems from a powerful comprehension of the gift of simply being gratefully alive. It is difficult for Western society to access this level of thankfulness as we are caught up in the ups and downs (drama) in the world.
If you only feel thankfulness when it serves your desires, this is not true thankfulness. No one is exempt from the vicissitudes in life, which may, at any time, take the possessions, situations and people we love away from us. Ironically, it is sometimes a loss that awakens us to be thankful for everything instead of only when things go our way. Illness and near-miss tragedies can also serve as a wake-up call to the deeper realization that we are truly blessed to be alive.
I believe we should be a lot more grateful for our lives and the people that share our world. It is always a case of when you lose something - that you realise what you had and sadly, it is too late ...... I guess it is a question of being 'mindful' of showing thankfulness and really being grateful for what we do have.
So what has brought on my sudden burst of thankfulness? Death & My Birthday.
Last Tuesday a lady at my church died; she was young, married and had 3 young children. What a sad situation to be in! None of us, unless we have been in that situation can comprehend those emotions that family will be feeling. But it made me thankful, thankful for my protected childhood and the fact I still have both my parents alive, my sisters alive and all sets of my grandparents alive. I have a family that love me, and care for me so much and this was proved to me recently on my birthday.
My parents, sisters, bestfriends and grandparents worked so hard to make my day as special as possible. I recieved thoughtful, time consuming gifts and cards with beautiful words written inside. To me it wasn't about the expensive presents, it was about all the little things that people had spent time thinking about and creating to make me happy.
You say a grace before meals. All right. But from now on I am going to say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I put my fingers to this keyboard to type. Why? Because I'm thankful & remember, in every circumstance you have something to be thankful for.
