Christmas is time to be grateful!

In a few days we will all be celebrating the most wonderful holiday season of the year—Christmas. Children will expect Santa to bring gifts, adults will express special warm greetings to each other, and all of us will strive to be jolly! But Christmas is also the time when we reflect on the past year and express gratitude for all that we possess.

This morning instead of expressing only my own thoughts, let me share some thoughts of others who have expressed their feelings of gratitude in this blessed moment of the year. Hopefully these inspiring thoughts will help all of us to feel gratitude.

Let us never forget that life is only as precious as we make it. It consists not only of material goods but mainly of love and feelings for others. And coupled with that is hope for a better tomorrow. I wish to share the following essay for it expresses the thoughts we too often forget:

“Isn’t it funny, in a sort of way, how often we get so mired down in every day depressions like bills, job responsibilities and such until we forget just how lucky we are to be alive?

“It can take something as simple as a shock, a severe car wreck or as in my recent experience, serious food poisoning, to realize just how lucky we are simply to be alive!

“Every day we seem to have something that ticks us off or makes us obsessed about how we fell short or how others fell short in our accomplishments. Or perhaps we complain about what we do not have or the amount that we do have. We seem to have less than the other guys, fewer luxuries, fewer toys, less money, less influence, etc, etc., whine and complain. No matter just how much we may actually have, it never seems to be enough.

“Well here is a word of advice from silly old me…If you do not have the money, toys, the luxuries…be HAPPY anyway! Because when you stop and think about it…if you had all those things and your wife, husband, child, or parents had only 24 hours to live, what would you do?

“Would you trade all of you possessions in the world for a few extra hours? Or would you hold on to them as the most important things in the world? After all, possessions are just things! What makes you breathe, think, cry, laugh, and exist is LIFE!

“I get caught up in “He who has the most toys…etc. etc.” too. But each lesson that brings me into perspective seems to be increasingly severe. So I have made a decision to concentrate on the individual joys in each individual minute. Flowers, Sunshine, Love of my family…Breathing. Yes, I am going to concentrate on being GRATEFUL!”—Author unknown

“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”—Anthony Robbins

“Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.”—Wayne Dyer

Here is a short story with a moral…being thankful. It will bring tears to your eyes as it did to mine.

“A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who changed the sign came by to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1,000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear. The most beautiful thing to see is a person smiling… and even more beautiful, knows that you are the reason behind it!”—Muslimah

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold everything is softer and more beautiful.”—Norman Vincent Peale

“I wish we could put some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.” —Harlan Miller

“Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.”—Oren Miller

We all have something to be grateful. Look around us and see how others are doing. Walk through any hospital ward, drive through some sections of Saipan, read about the devastation going on in many countries, and view pictures of homeless families. Then think, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

Yes, times are tough and dollars are scarce and the economy is in turmoil, but we still have each other. Is there more? As we hug each other let us whisper into each other’s ear, “God bless us all.”

From my home to yours and to everybody, I offer you a very Merry Christmas! And please smile! It is one of the nicest presents to share and easy to carry. Have a great week.