Being Grateful

A day after Christmas is Boxing Day in Canada and the UK. It has many purposes in this country. Mainly, a shopping day is what most people look forward to on Boxing Day. Those elusive deals are all out there today and the stores really need the shot in the arm for their seasons.


Other Canadians will tell you that it is the Day that the Canadian Junior Hockey Team get to beat up on their first opponent in their quest for the World Junior Championship. Today, poor Latvia gets to be the whipping dog…(This is the year that they go for 6 straight championships!! Go Canada!!)

But no matter what you are doing today, it is probably a down-day after all the preparations for Christmas are finally over. And as much as we all love Christmas, you can say it out loud without fear of repercussion that we are glad it is over. Let's be honest, it IS a lot of work, and it is financially draining especially in a really bad economic year.

I imagine that there are people out there who have had the worst year of their lives; Families who are spending their first Christmas without a loved one beside them, having homes and cars taken away from them, not having any choices or resources at Christmas time, and feeling that they let their families down.

Yes, some really bad pictures this year...

-So at a time when you pause and reflect on the Day after Christmas, look around you. I mean, REALLY look around you. There are people amongst you that will not be there next year. You don't know it yet, but life is about to change on you again. What you think you didn't have this year, may be worse next year. And then you will understand the true meaning of being grateful.

Unfortunately, the way we learn as humans has to be to lose something before we can really appreciate that it was there in the first place. That's really unfortunate...

I think I will pause and take the moment to not worry about what I think I would LIKE to have, but rather look around me and be truly grateful for what freedoms and choices I DO have. That makes a lot more sense to me than worrying about things that I can't control.

I remember during good years of my life when things were absolutely marvelous, that I used to stop and quietly thank God. I think I talked to God more in a great year, than I ever did in a bad year. In a bad year, God knows I am not happy; but in a good year, I want him to know how truly thankful I am for the blessings that I have currently. I know that these will change, and that things cannot remain this way, but nothing fills me with greater satisfaction than being able to be grateful for it when you have it.

Measuring one's success is truly the perception of the beholder. I know a lot of countries out there that view my lifestyle, like we would view Hollywood's lifestyle. But of course, we can't see that. Our society is so worried that someone else has something more than we do, that we create these negative emotions that drag us down.

Well, I'm not going to play that game...

My life my not be all that I want or wished it would be, but there is still time. Life is a journey, not a destination. It doesn't have a destination; it all depends on how you are getting to where you are going. -Who you touch along the way, who you make a difference to while you are getting there. -Contribution to the people around you by getting involved, rather than trying to accumulate.

There will always be people out there with more money than you. -Guaranteed. That may be something that you can not help. But never let it be said that there is a person out there that has much less than you, and yet finds the energy and the will to make lives better than you can. If they can find the will, and see the vision of what is really important in life, than so can you.

And be grateful for it...