The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? .. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord~ Psalm 27: 1, 13-14

In these fragmented attention-deficit times, there’s clearly a hunger people have for light, deep, meaningful, compassionate presence, created by utilizing the emotional power of film scoring underneath heartfelt messages so that we feel compelled to stop all the doing, all the multi-tasking, and all the short attention-span flash in the pans on youtube; creating moments that are memorable, deep, and capable of awakening us to a remembrance of who we really are, along with a deep sense of what matters most.

Gratitude is a process that works no matter what your beliefs are, or are not, about the Creator or any other deity. If your gratitude flows to the Holy One or just emanates from you to the world around you, the effect is positive to yourself and others. Practice life-affirming modes and you will benefit, no matter what your god is, or who your gods are.

Do you think this is just another day in your life? It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you. Today. As the Lord’s prayer says, “Give us THIS DAY.” It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now and the only appropriate response is gratefulness and gratitude. If you do nothing else but to cultivate the response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if this were the first day of your life, or your last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

Let us be thankful every day for what God has done for us. Follow Him and learn more and more each day. Such a beautiful reminder to open your eyes and heart to the amazing gift of life and let the attitude of gratitude overflow into blessings all around you. Go be the change you wish to see in the world .. you can do small things with great love. Take a moment to place your hand over your heart .. feel that? That’s called purpose.

Gentle recognition of the gratitude of Life. Look, listen, love, and give thanks for the past and present. What we have is now. Right now. This moment. The best moment of our lives.  We are all so wonderfully unique, as the Almighty has done a perfect work in each of us, and when we realize that, only we can fulfill the task he has created us for. We then begin to see the innate beauty that is all around us and in our lives.

The way ahead is to live life each and every day. We must practice with every breath, remembrance and thankfulness. When we slip, and we will, we rise again like the sun to warm our own hearts and those of others. Beauty. Love. Gratitude. Thanksgiving. How much we have to be thankful for, and this brings it all full circle. Thank you dearly-departed Leonard Cohen for showing us the true Light. Thank you for such wonderful words. It is good to be reminded how we should be grateful of all the things God has blessed us with, which we more often than not, simply take for granted.

Forgive us dear Lord in Heaven. Forgive us all. Continue to show us “that’s how the Light gets in.”

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. ~ Psalm 100: 3-4

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H/T Gerard Vanderleun and American Digest

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Face of Jesus by Richard Hook

Soli Deo Gloria!