Today if you have... ...plenty of water to drink and food to eat. ...a roof over your head. ...a bed to sleep in. ...facilities to shower or bathe. ...a private indoor toilet. ...a job to go to or a school to attend. ...no bombs, shooting, or shelling within earshot....
Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
We remember too the loved ones into whose dear eyes we cannot look again. O God, in whom are both the living and the dead, you are still their life and light as you are ours. Wherever they may be, lay your hand tenderly upon them and grant that someday we may meet...
What I find distinct about gratitude in the wilderness is its simplicity -- the thankfulness I feel here is for what I usually take for granted... For the most part, gratitude here wells up unexpectedly, in the quiet corners of the day, over events small and ordinary....
When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or you take them with gratitude.
While all were granted the right of conscience in matters of faith, Luther still stressed the necessity of evaluating faith in community. Indeed, for Luther, the very freedom of the Christian was paradoxical as the believer is both freed from all in Christ and at the...