10TH MAY of CHRISTMAS...THE ATTITUDE

Image by limevelyn via FlickrEveryone has "those days". Days when it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is permanently out;
days when it appears that you are spinning your wheels attempting to do your best and falling farther behind; days when you wonder if things are going from bad to worse; days when there seems little to be sure of and much to doubt.

It can seem like the world is spinning out of control and you become discouraged looking at the future, but that is just when those horrific statistics of what life is like for the other half of the world  make us realize how we really need to be grateful and appreciative of being so favored;so blessed.

Sure, some people have to work two or three jobs to stay afloat, but even when that happens, we are still much farther ahead of those people whose yearly income is still less than what we might bring home in a week. We may have to pay for our health care but we don't have to know our children will die from lack of ever having a doctor within a hundred miles of our village or medicine available to fight off a disease.
We grumble about the high cost of gasoline all the while forgetting that some people will never know the luxury of transportation. We can become frustrated with our government but still have the freedom to complain, attend religious services, and decide what career we want to pursue without fear of serious repercussion or bodily harm. We complain about the high costs of education but forget that somewhere there are countless youngsters who will never learn to read or see the inside of a school. We become anxious when the cost of living goes up and our dollar much stretch even farther but never consider clean drinking water and food in our cupboards as treasures others only dream about.
Image via Wikipedia
It is so easy to become so accustomed to comforts that we simply expect them. We feel entitled to the "good life" all the while insisting that things need to "get better". When you have so much, it's hard to even envision anything less. Most of the ordinary everyday blessings we just wake up and find at our fingertips from indoor plumbing to cell phones, instant movies to designer coffee, microwaves to computers are stuff in dreams to people who live half way around the world. 

The next time you have "one of those days", you can honestly know it really COULD be worse. When the TV is down or the washing machine breaks, at least you have a TV or washing machine. The same when the car needs a new transmission or you need a roof repaired. If we could just stop taking everything for granted we might recognize we are more blessed than most.

There is a saying I love,..."It's not having what you want that matters, it's wanting what you have." I so often forget how very true that is. The more you have the more you tend to want and the vicious cycle of taking the "good life" for granted is passed on from generation to generation.

It's just a few days before Christmas, and often we all need to realize how truly blessed, truly fortunate and truly wealthy in many ways we are, probably even on our worst days.

That's when we need to think about the 10th May of Christmas:
MAY YOU DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE   

We would surely miss all our luxuries and blessings if they were removed, but how often do we actually express gratitude for having them? How often do we think about any of the things we so easily take for granted as incredible blessings instead of entitlements?

People say God doesn't always give you what you deserve, but He gives you what you need. In my case, he has given me so much more than I deserved and I sometimes I still complain and continue to hold out my hand and ask for more. Sometime I forget about an attitude of gratitude and instead expect the rest and the best.


How about you? Have you ever wondered how differently your life might be without a home, car, food, utilities, a job, clothes, health care, education, freedom?


It does make you want to close your hand and wonder how to begin to even say "thank-you"

Image via WikipediaThanks be to God for his indescribable gift(s)!  2 Corinthians 9:15