Gratitude

Gratitude has been linked to an improvement in overall wellness.

No matter what is on your table, or who gathers around it this year, let’s remember to serve gratitude. If you can find one thing to be thankful for, it will improve your mood and potentially even your health.

Each of us has many blessings to count. In even the darkest of times, we can find something, many things to be grateful for. I have lived through some very painful and dark times and finding ways to serve and be thankful has been life giving for me many times. There were a few years, when we were on the brink of destruction and living through tremendous grief. During this time my mom chose to take us to serve food at homeless shelters on Thanksgiving. We ate Jack in the Box 2 for $1 tacos on our drive home. Those are some of my most treasured memories. We had so little, but we learned to be thankful we still had much and so much to give.

I need you to know I am grateful for YOU. Yes, you. As you read this, please trust me that you matter to me. To this world. You have been created with so much purpose and each breath inside of you is one I am thankful for.

I have part of this poem hanging in my home. Damien gave it to me when we were dating. It is said to have been found etched in the wall of a cellar at a concentration camp in Cologne during WWII.

“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone’s there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I’ll give you strength,
I’ll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there’s no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace….”
– Uknown

I’m thankful for the sun, for love, for God, and for you.