Unlock the Fullness of Life

There is an old Garfield comic in which Garfield is watching television. An advertisement blares out of the set, “Our cat food is new and improved! NEW AND IMPROVED! NEW AND IMPROVED!” In the last scene, Garfield says to himself, “Just think… All this time I’ve been eating old and inferior.”

It is true. Sometimes we are made to feel we need the newest and the best in order to be happy. And when we fall into that trap, we often fail to appreciate all that we do have.

Author Melody Beattie once wrote, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

My friend Roger Kunkel once suggested writing a “thank you” letter to God. What a great idea! Today, I invite you to find a quiet moment and call to mind all that makes your life rich. Put your reflections into a letter being as detailed as possible. And then, may that letter serve also as a prayer of thanks.

Let us pray: Gracious God – you give and you give and you give. Help us today to notice the abundance of your grace and mercy. Deliver us from any anxiety, worry, or self-pity and open our eyes to the blessings that surround us – right here and right now. And then, as we are blessed, help us to be a blessing to others. We pray in the name of the One who gave even his life for us. Amen.