Gratitude Living
“This is the day the Lord has made” – Psalm 118:24
It is good to set goals but sometimes we may fall into the trap of believing that we will only be happy when we reach those goals so we keep postponing life.
A Guest Speaker tells of being invited to speak at a military base and meeting a soldier named Raphael at the airport. After they introduced themselves they headed towards baggage claim. As they walked down the concourse Raphael kept disappearing, once to help an older woman whose suitcase had fallen open, another time to lift up two toddlers so they could see Santa Claus, and again to give directions to someone who was lost. Each time he came back with a big smile on his face.
‘Where did you learn to live like that?’ the Guest Speaker asked. ‘Oh,’ Raphael said, ‘during the war, I guess.’ Then he told the Guest Speaker about his last tour of duty, how it was his job to detect mines, and how he watched his friends get blown up before his eyes, one after another. ‘I learned to live between steps,’ he said.
‘I never knew whether the next step would be my last, so I learned to get everything I could out of the moment between when I picked up my foot and put it down again. Every step I took was a whole new world, and I guess I’ve been living that way ever since.’
Raphael had it right!
To get the most out of living we must live by the Scripture: ‘This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’