Hey, God!

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I have been thinking about gratitude.  I can choose gratitude for my old age rather than complaint.  My mother’s sister had rheumatoid arthritis and no medication to keep her from becoming crippled.  I live in a time and a place and with enough money to purchase medical care and medication to keep me mobile. 

I am not sure what is meant by aging gracefully, but I know about aging gratefully.  I appreciate living in a beautiful forest within a congenial and loving community.  I appreciate having a wonderful daughter and a grandson of whom I am so very proud.  I am grateful for what health I do have.

Most of all, I am grateful for my relationship with God.  Because of it, I am sober today.  I have friends and a host of acquaintances.  I know how to live through hardship and how to laugh with joy.  I know how to say that I’m sorry and how to forgive.

I don’t know how to fix the world’s troubles, but I can and do pray for them when I sit with my Beloved in holy silence.  I am grateful for the confidence I feel that although the world may be facing terrible times, in the end all will be well.  I’ve no idea how, but I am not God and don’t have to know. 

What I do have to do, and I am grateful for the ability to do so, is to love those that God puts in my path and in my heart and to try to give them some inkling of the depth of joy and peace that fills my heart.  As I look back, I can see what a jagged, crooked path I took to finding God.  I regret none of it.  I no longer suffer from it.  I even look forward to eternity with a sense of adventure yet to come.

So, thanks God, for never giving up on me.  Make me ever more grateful, and ever more giving.  Show me your way and give me the power to do your will.  And hey, God, have I told you today that I love you?