It’s so easy to take for granted the things we rely so heavily upon every single day of our lives. My question for you is how often are you doing that?
In my case, take for example the use of my hands and fingers. I have two of them with all digits intact, which up until yesterday each were functioning quite well. But after spending over 8 hours outside putting up Christmas decorations with temperatures hovering in the single digits and wind chills in the minus range, that changed entirely. Since then, my right hand has been in incredible pain because of being over utilized while my muscles were in a mostly contracted state due to that freezing cold.
Now my right hand has become a constant reminder of one of those things I’ve relied so heavily upon but frequently took for granted. I really find it ironic how most of us probably depend upon something such as a hand with rarely even appreciating it, until the day comes, like it has for me, when it’s not working the way it normally does.
Now I am having to deal with tasks such as brushing my teeth, washing my body, opening a door handle, typing this article, pushing a plug into an outlet, twisting the top of a jar, or clenching my hand to do just about any action in an overly painful way or choosing not to do them at all. But I’m not upset today as I spiritually reflect on this because it’s given me another invaluable reminder in having greater gratitude. Gratitude for even the simplest of thing I usually rely quite heavily upon, like my right hand, and have taken for granted each and every day of my life.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
Taking things for granted! I believe that my creator made me with all the functioning parts that is intended for me to be able to live a life of purpose. As I give thanks each day for my life and all I have, material things, family, friends etc… I may not think of every individual item, but my heart sends loving thankful energy to the universe for each thing. The body is an amazing creation, did you know that a deaf person who signs for communication never gets carpel tunnel but the person who can hear and uses sign to communicate will. The body compensates for its losses naturally where it takes time for me to adjust when I loose the use of a part of my body. When this happens I have a choice, I can regress and choose to become a victim ( I say choose because I believe we are all victims in some way therefore all there is volunteers to act like one) or I can be thankful for what life has given me and adjust to what ever happens to me to continue to live a life of purpose. In my experience with the pain in my body is that the more I focus on the pain the worse it gets but when I am thankful for my life and do all I can the best I can and focus on life as a blessing however it is for me, I feel blessed and free and more thankful for life itself. I look at it as the creators way of reminding me that I am not invincible and I cannot live life alone, I believe people need people and if I need people to help me with things that other people can do every day with out the struggle I cannot, shows me how much my creator loves me by having people in my life to make me whole. The lesson for me to to be humble and not egotistic and that to accept life on life’s term. The next posting? What is a life of purpose mean to you?
Great comments! Thanks for your insight Les. Quite interesting about the deaf person and their interpreter. I will put some thought to writing a future article on your last question. 🙂
My experience is that I very often take things for granted – until they don’t work. I take my teeth for granted – until I bite down wrong and crack a filling. I take my knees for granted – until the arthritis makes me wobble when I get up from a chair. How often do I take life itself for granted – until I read the obituary of a friend or companion?
I don’t know that I *choose* self-pity or feeling as a victim – but I am very much aware that I have to *choose* to escape those feelings. My natural tendency is to marinate in them, and ruin a day, or a week, or a holiday season. The escape always begins with gratitude for what I *do* have, and celebrating the life I get to live. It’s not always what I want, but it’s almost always better than what a fair judge would have assigned me. I’m ever so grateful for mercy, instead of justice.
I try now to practice gratitude every day for even the smallest of things. So as I’m heading to bed nowadays, I thank God for things like my hands, my sight, my hearing, etc. Thanks for your comments Steve! 🙂