going the distance...

As I walked my two dogs this morning at 6 am, I took note of the increasing darkness. We are now in the mid-summer days, but I can sense the oncoming next season of autumn. The grass is growing less and turning brown, the birds are much quieter in the mornings...yes, a change is in the air.

It is times such as this that I feel grateful. Grateful for the warm days, the flowers and veggies that I was able to grow, grateful for open windows at night and pleasant days. Grateful for all of it!

I think much of the problems in our world stems from a LACK of gratitude. We want everything and we want it NOW! We extend massive lines of credit to have every gadget, every moment is filled with technology...when was the last time you just took a walk, cognizant of the world around you? When you felt grateful to just be alive?

This past week, Minnesota mourned the loss of a police officer, shot down on the job. That was the one we know about. The obituary pages are full of people who also lost their life...yet they were not heralded in as dramatic a fashion, but that does not diminish the legacy they may have left.

Do you show gratitude for these folks? Do you remember a teacher, a pastor, a relative who inspire you? How about the other end of the spectrum...there are those whose lives may have seemed like nothing, yet they also affect us: the homeless, the mentally ill, the alcoholics...they ARE children of God...His lost sheep. Sure, to you they might seem unworthy...unlovable, but these are the ones that Jesus told us we should especially care for. The "least among us." The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40.

Gratitude inspires us to love more...and the more of that love that we give away, the more compelled we are to want to do more...to give away more...to another person. I see countries in which it isn't enough to have land, more is wanted. Leaders will go to war in order to have it, displacing many who do not wish to live under the regimes of these leaders. In the end, a lack of gratitude for having "enough" hurts the children the most. They die from hunger, from illness from a lack of belonging to something.  Empathy is in short supply. I always tell people, "how would YOU feel if this was you?" Imagine...your destiny may have landed you right where you are supposed to be....yet destiny also meant that someone is also where they are supposed to bem, yet they are uprooted from what is considered "normal." And yes, sadly this DOES happen in America...again, think of the many homeless...for whatever reason there may be.

Today...cultivate an attitude of gratitude! Look at another and walk in their shoes. Show gratitude for the "least" among us! Show this gratitude in your service to them! Look at the person who poured your coffee at the drive thru...the waitress who has been on her feet all day and yet she cheers you up with a smile...think of that cop who maybe just pulled you over for speeding. He/She also has a family to go home to and is just "doing their job." Think of the guy who cut you off in traffic...maybe he just found out his mom died last night and is deep in grief. Walk in the shoes of another, folks. Take that first step...then go the distance.
Thanks be to God!