Gratitude

As I logged into my facebook account and msn messenger on New Years’ day , I cannot help but to notice a central theme which stood out from the string of greetings and well-wishes. That theme revolves around ones’ hope for a ‘better’ – prosperity, greater certainty in the economy, Job re-creation and career progression etc. year ahead.

It has always been overly-emphasized to the point that I feel this lack of gratitude lingering in many of us, for the many blessings bestowed and experienced in the year that has come to pass. In good times and bad, I’m sure that God has touched us and made our lives different in someway or another. Some people choose to believe that the blessings they experience come by sheer chance – by luck , Some even think that they’ve earned them.

These are also the same people you see , turning back to religion and re-submitting themselves to God when nothing seems to go their way and reverting back to their old selves when their ‘paths’ are rid off all obstacles . God is only remembered in bad times. We tend to shun away from being openly thankful and grateful to God for his providence. We take him for granted.


For the past 4 – 5 years or so to date, I’ve been living life with this ‘newly discovered’ obsessive compulsion which has not only plagued my life with inconveniences, sadness and confusion, failure, fear of not being socially accepted but also contributed to the many ‘clashes’ with my loved ones. However, I would still consider myself fortunate and privileged to be ‘put’ in this situation, to be humbled - to learn how I should be understanding, more compassionate and sensitive to the feelings of others whom we do not know and/or fully understand. I guess it’s this hidden strength which God has provided so abundantly for. The strength that has allowed me to persevere on and against the many difficulties in life, keeping me sane and ‘opening’ my eyes to seeing things in a different light.

Today, As i put forth this entry, I’m truly engulfed in deep gratitude to the Lord for everything – this life that is given , the trials accompanying it and the many breaths that I’ve breathed so far – the very same breath that God breathed into Adam.