Today, Gommy is going to talk about gratitude. A few short years ago, I was in the middle of a very tough financial period of my life. My husband and I owned a golf course and we were working crazy long hours and had used all of our funds in trying to make it work. The economy finally made our decision for us and we had to give it up. During the most scary time, when it was obvious we were going to lose everything, I just couldn't bring myself to fight it anymore and one morning, I literally fell to the floor, got on my knees and asked God to please take over. We had certainly done everything we could think of. When things get really bad, we all usually call out for Gods' help. Even if we aren't religious. Even the worse kind of criminal cries out for God when they are afraid......So I just said, "Please God, I can't do this anymore. Take over for us and I will do whatever is your will for us. Please guide us in the right direction." He did and I can't put in words the relief it was to know that I wasn't in control any longer. It was like I had been going upstream in a canoe, fighting hard to get somewhere and when I let go of the oars, I just coasted along wherever the 'flow' was taking me. Wheeeeee!
Now, the gratitude part comes in because I cannot express how grateful I am now for EVERYTHING in my life. What I used to think was 'everything' was actually just 'things'. What I learned from my 'financial ruin' was that it was actually a gift. I would never have come to realize that I am alright afterall and having gone through all I did, I am still the same person now that I was when I had lots of things and lots of money. Only now, I am grateful for the smallest of things. I thank God every day for my family and for the bed I sleep on at night, for the roof over my head, the food I eat, the sunshine or the rain, the car I drive to the job I am grateful for having....I could go on, but the point is that I was never consciously thankful before - I guess I just expected those things in my life to be there through some sort of entitlement. I think many people are under that wrong assumption. I have come to understand that everything we all have, eat and enjoy in our lives are given to us through the grace of God. I never understood the word 'grace' before either. Grace is something we are given and not something we have earned. I can remember seeing people out at restaurants, bowing their heads, giving thanks for the meal they were about to eat and thinking they were odd in some way. I realize now that they were way ahead of me in knowing that they should be grateful and they should give thanks. It actually feels wonderful when you give thanks for something you didn't earn or could never earn. It is the feeling of real gratitude. It is like the unconditional love a parent has for their child. It is Gods' unconditional love for his children. I can imagine that some who are reading this right now think I must be some religious zealot....I am not. I am just a person who went through a rough time and asked God for help and He helped me...'Ask, believe, receive.' Try it sometime. It works! God Bless.....
