Life is so precious when you learn to live each day at a time with a heart of gratitude no matter the circumstance. Frankly speaking, you did not create yourself or contribute to the choice of your lineage or gender. Life is a gift from God, and it’s comparable to the clay in the potter’s hand. The potter alone has the right to mold the clay and turn it into objects of value and beauty. Your duty is to stay pliable and enjoy this gift called life by being responsive and submissive to the potter’s plan for your life.
‘We only live once! But, if we live well, once is enough.’ Don’t over burden yourself to the point where you’re stretched beyond your elastic limit. If we can take each day as a gift, then life will become pleasurable and not burdensome. In the words of John Miller, “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life: not so much by what happens to you as the way your mind looks at what happens.”
Get positive and consciously decide to enjoy life, even when you think there is no reason to do so, and then life will begin to make more sense to you. You may not have all the things you need right now, but where you are today is certainly better than where you are coming from.
Some are healthy and well off, however, can’t enjoy life, unlike Mattie Stephanek, a 13 year old boy with a rare form of the disease called muscular dystrophy, who made life meaningful for himself despite the disease. With this condition, it means his heart rate, respiration, body temperature, oxygenation, digestion, etc., were not automatic. He used extra oxygen all the time, and when he is tired, he used a ventilator which breathed for him. In spite of this, he treasured life as a gift and was concerned about others. When he had the opportunity of chatting with Jimmy Carter, former USA president, from his hospital bed, he didn’t ask for personal favours, but his focus was on the problems in Bosnia and Africa.
If we learn to take each day as a special moment, we will remain undefeated with the issues of life. Actually, no life is totally free from trials, but the difference is how we respond to them. We can decide to rise above the storm and soar high like the eagle, or sink with the problem. Life is a matter of choice, live in the present and see possibilities in problems.
On a lighter note, don’t kill yourself over the issues of life, after all nobody gets out of it alive.
Take life as a gift and help others appreciate the gift of life.
Never take life for granted.
Excerpts:
Chris E. Kwakpovwe- Our Daily Manna, April- June, 2017