Today I will greet with a spirit of gratitude.  It is so easy to be ungrateful.  To look at your life and see many things that are lacking.  I will change the focus of it and thank the Almighty for all his gifts.  He has given me so much.  And I have to thank Him for so much:  Every breath I possess is His.  All the material wealth I possess is, also, His.  It is only mine temporarily.  It is only on loan.  As well as the people He puts in my life.  All on loan.  As well as my wife and direct relatives–my two sisters and cousins.  All on loan.  I have to thank God for all of it.  As well as my friends.  I will thank God for all of it and continue to greet this day with a spirit of gratitude.  It is all His.

Nothing Is Pemanent

Author: siggy

Nothing is permanent.  Mates and relatives die.  Friends move away or drift away from you.  Or even die.  The complexion of neighborhoods may change.  Some people move away, others move in.  Nothing is forever.

I remember once visiting my old neighborhood, where I grew up in and realized the community had changed drastically.

There was nothing no more to keep me there. My parents and friends had moved away.  I could not go back to my old haunts.  They were not there any longer.

I had to start all over somewhere else.  And I did in Morristown.  For fifteen years I lived there.  Then my life took me somewhere else.  Pennsylvania.

Of course, at some point you realize you have so much time and have to decide where you are going to spend the remainder of your life.

There is something to be said for roots.  When you spend a lifetime in one area and invested time and energy in reaching out to others, you have roots and who else will want to help you but these very people you have spent a lifetime with.

Moving far away from your roots, the friends you cultivated for years and close relatives may leave you stranded.  There may come a time you need their help.  You will not be young forever.

Of course, there is an assumption you care about your roots and friends.  There is so many times you can move and develop roots in another area.  That usually take years.  Sometimes a lifetime.  All that needs to be considered in a major move.

It is so hard to retrace your steps.  I can’t tell you the year but I do precisely remember visiting some relatives.  They were both artists.  And for the first time someone did not tell me what to do, what to believe.  I felt accepted and listened to for the first time.

When you are a child, whatever your particular reality, it is yours.  My parents were dysfunctional (and I know every family is) but I was used to being told how I should be.  All the time.  To them, there was only one way to do something–their way.

My visit was a turning point.  There was another way.  I was not even aware of it.  Later, I only felt free walking Greenwich Village.  Then later still –the journey took years– I felt free every where but I still remember that first time.  It was a turning point.  There was another way to be.  It became okay to be me and different.

It is so easy to view the current events occurring in the world and feel completely helpless.  You really have to back down and look at your life and your personal sphere of influence.  Every day you have contact with people.  You never know for sure how your actions will impact the world.  That is beyond your scope.

To love the people God puts in your circle is no small thing.  It might send small shock waves throughout the universe.  It is true you can not predict the impact of your daily behavior but loving each person who is in your personal sphere of influence is no small thing.  The world could be transformed.  Yes, that might not happen but don’t linger there.  It will only defeat you.

Mother Teresa said do not do big things with love but small things with much love.  It is so easy to get lost in the big picture.  Look at the lives you are intertwined with:  your wife, your kids, your relatives, your friends even the strangers you pass every day.  You never know how a kind or encouraging word can just be the right medicine for some hurting person.

You can transform the world but first learn to do small things with much love.  Life is really composed of many small things.  The big things in life only come along once in a while.  So learn to reach out to each person with love, acceptance and respect.  As Jesus said, “Lose your life and you will find it.”  That does not sound like an exact quote but nevertheless reach out to others.  You will never be disappointed.