Gratitude or thankfulness for everything and everybody

I was encouraged a few years ago to be thankful and to realise that ‘God is in all things’. It is easy to thank God for the wonderful things of life. The sunrise and sunset. The warmth the cold.

We are all different, so it is right to see that life is good and the space between sunrise and sunset, is equally wonderful for some. Just because we don’t see beauty where others do, does not mean that it is not beauty. We have a responsibility to allow beauty to be everywhere especially when at first we don’t appreciate or perceive it. If we allow others to show us the beauty they see, we can get a glimpse of that beauty and so our lives are enriched.

Life is full of small and large losses. I believe we have a challenge to face these losses with courage and hope. Hope for what the loss will be replaced with or hope for newness. Life is cyclical and is always being renewed, whether it is a new year, a new season or a new day. The hardest change or loss it seems is death itself. When it’s up front and personal it can feel almost suffocating.  The reality is life continues and we learn new strengths and courage to take the next steps of life. We don’t get over death, but we learn to live with the emptiness it appears to make, and eventually with the grace of God we manage to open to a newness that wasn’t possible when our loved one was around.

Cecilia Formby