Well hello my beautiful family once again! I know, it's been a while but, by the grace and mercy of God I am here ready to continue. In the past few weeks I got sick (VERY sick), my wife got sick, had a huge family emergency, struggled with feeling down but, God carried me through it all and here I am once again. The Bible says:
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." - Psalms 55:22
What a beautiful promise, no? When you put your trust in God... when you TRULY put your trust in God, everything else that "matters" in the world just stops being a worry or of matter to us. Almost as if all of our weights and worries through life disappear, leaving behind only a desire to be better and move on knowing that we're being sustained by the Almighty. I love God and, honestly, I can't wait for Him to come back and take us with Him. ❤️
Now, let's get back to our main topic of discussion for this week; I want to talk about ungratefulness and about how to deal with it; not just because being ungrateful can significantly weighs on us and makes us feel unworthy, but because nowadays ungratefulness seems to be gaining popularity. Wouldn't you agree?
Let's talk about ungratefulness...
In today's modern age, ungratefulness can either be very obvious or not. When people think about ungratefulness, first thing that come to mind is the obvious feeling of not being content with what we have or have obtained. I have some news though: often times when we're being ungrateful, we don't even know we're being it. You see, there is not just the one type of ungratefulness... The most obvious version of ungratefulness shows when we get that promotion we were hoping for and see that the salary increase we were expecting didn't match our expectations and we get upset, when the car we wanted to purchase - we now realize - is outside of our budget and we lose our good mood, or even when the gift we receive didn't meet our expectations. Then there's the less obvious ungratefulness: this is when we simply take for granted the things in life that makes life worth living and instead choose to focus on the negatives and complaints.
No one in their death bed looked back and reflected about the money missed from the overtime opportunity that he/she couldn't make due to other commitments, or about the backyard fence that never got repaired, or about the shoes the store didn't had on his/her size. It is often times, unfortunately, in the worst times or last moments on planet earth that people look back and take appreciation of the things they once took for granted. At the end, all the fights and troubles seem so insignificant; the only thing that matters then was all the things that at the moment, seemed trivial. When you live your life taking for granted every moment and focusing on the troubles... you are living an ungrateful life. The Bible says:
"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”- Hebrews 13:5
What if one was to live one day of life not worrying about the minor affairs and enjoying the things that make life worth living? Instead of being upset by morning traffic, enjoy the sunrise. Instead by being annoyed at coworkers, enjoy the fact that you have a job. Instead of fighting with family or friends, appreciate the fact that they're living and you have the blessing of still being able to talk to them. Wouldn't living life as such be amazing?
True Story...
February 3, 2023.
Just like every other Friday, I woke up motivated to go to work and get a start on the weekend. Worked, finished my work day, went to the post office to ship some things I needed to send to a very close and dear family member of mine, my stepdad, and before I left the post office I texted him to let him know I had shipped the items. I continued my day, hit rush hour on the way and found myself in a hurry as that evening I was to meet with the future tenants for my empty house; they were going to sign the 1-year lease/contract. I got home, changed clothes, grabbed my keys and headed out again to meet with the future tenants... something was off though, my stepdad hadn't texted me back. This was odd as he usually responds fairly quickly. I got in my car, started driving again and while in traffic I called my stepdad. After one of two calls without response he eventually responds, only that this time I cannot quite understand what he was saying to me. I only hear a mumble and knowing his personality, I immediately thought he was joking and I ask him to stop the mumbling; he didn't. After about a minute of the continued joke I began to worry and decide to hang up and call his niece for me to ask her to go check him out as he's sounding weird. She did not pick up and then my phone rings with a FaceTime call from my stepdad... I figured, jokes' over and he's calling to apologize. What I saw when I picked the phone up is an image I'll never forget.
My stepdad was laying on the floor next to the kitchen counter with half his face completely paralyzed and completely unable to pronounce words. I immediately recognized the situation... he was suffering a stroke... and a terrible one I may add. I live in the U.S and he lives in Puerto Rico, what could I do? Nothing but to call my mom and sister and ask them to immediately call 911 and report the incident. Long story short, he was transported in an ambulance to the hospital where still today, 1 month later, he is at recovering.
In the process I, of course, traveled to Puerto Rico and visited him at the hospital. I realized that for him, over the course of maybe 5-6 hours, life had changed DRASTICALLY... let's leave it at that. One day life was normal, the next... life was not the same, not even close. Why am I sharing this story? Well, by taking care of him and by visiting him, I realized real-time that life is just fragile and can take a turn in any given second. Why worry about the things that at the end of the day, bring no value? The ability to walk and run we are all guilty of taking for granted, we're all guilty of being unappreciative and ungrateful about that God-given blessing... here was my stepdad wanting to give everything for the chance of walking again.
It clicked...
The obvious type of ungratefulness is easy, or can be easy, to control. Is a matter of learning to live happily with what we have. The second less obvious type of ungratefulness, the one where we live lives filled with stress and anger for things without true value, is much less easy to control... unless we read and pay close attention to the key for gratefulness shared with us by God and through the Bible. I've always said it and will forever will... the Bible is God's life manual to us. Everything we need to know about God, about living spiritual lives connected with him, and about living and navigating the circumstances of life, are written in that unique and beautiful book. The teachings about living grateful lives are not the exception.
Jesus knew exactly what was the cure to ungratefulness and, furthermore, the cure for not living purpose-less lives. Here it is:
"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father ,inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’" - Matthew 25:34-36
Can you see it? It is a known fact that nothing fills the human soul like (aside from God) giving and helping the less fortunate. Is just a feeling like no other; almost as if we were designed and created to be like that... hmmm... we actually were :) Ok, that's the purpose part. What about the gratefulness side? Well, by surrounding yourself with people that you can help and give to, by being that hand that helps, in turn you realize all the things that you're blessed on and don't even know it. Get it? Giving and helping others who find themselves in unfortunate situations not only gives you satisfaction and purpose, but a sense of being blessed beyond imagination and a grateful spirit. Seeing my stepdad in the situation he was in made me realize just how stupid I sometimes am and how I often times takes things for granted that I shouldn't.
Closing...
Friend, sister, brother, family... Only through connecting with God we can develop a genuine and devoted giving character which, in turn, acknowledges His blessings and becomes grateful even for the things that many just take for granted. Life can change in the blink of an eye... connect with God today, let Him show you the way to true gratefulness, and I promise that your life will never be the same.
Until next one,
This week's video:
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