Gratitude

“What if you woke up tomorrow and everything that you forgot to thank God for the day before was taken away.”

This is my Birthday week! And unlike most who fret, ignore, or lament their birthday…I am exceedingly grateful for every year! There was a young man named Roberto who was being treated for cancer at Sloan Kettering alongside my son. He was in his teens and had traveled from Guatemala hoping for a miracle. I watched this young man fight with such courage, perseverance, and hope for months. I happened to be in the waiting room the day he was told there was nothing else to be done. He died gracefully a week later.

Every time I look in the mirror to discover a new wrinkle or realize I’m not the sprite eighteen year old, even the thirty year old anymore, I think of sweet Roberto’s young, hopeful face. He would have done anything to celebrate another birthday! And so as I nudge one year closer to the big 40, I am dancing a jig! (and enjoying my favorite Coconut cake!) But most importantly, I am saying lots of thank you’s!

A friend sent me this quote a year ago and I keep it pinned to my computer, “What if you woke up tomorrow and everything you forgot to thank God for the day before was taken away?” Can you imagine? Lately, when I am up in the middle of the night, instead of counting sheep or counting by three’s down from 100, I have taken to whispering thank you’s. I thank God for every single thing I can think of-even…the almost-40 wrinkles! But I especially thank God for what Howard Thurman calls the “Big Hope” that never quite deserts me!”

Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude.

It is the secret! (And a good eye cream!)

Live in Hope,

Farrell