A SPIRIT OF GRATITUDE -

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
~ William Arthur Ward

Let’s face facts – No one in this life owes you anything!

Your parents’ responsibility for you ends on the day that the government no longer regards you as a minor; your friends are not duty-bound to listen to you complain about your boss and your boss retains the inherent right to not care about the family issues that made you late for work Again; even the guy driving down the road minding his own business is under no obligation to let you merge in front of him just because you turned on your blinker.

We receive blessings every day which we often take for granted – our parents may bless us by giving us a little pocket change to tide us over till our next paycheck; our friends may bless us by treating us to an impromptu night out to celebrate our most recent victory or cheer us up after a disappointment; our boss may bless us by granting us the leeway to work flexible hours to accommodate our kids’ school drop-off and/or pick-up schedules; and the stranger driving down the street may bless us by pausing his journey in order for us to slide out of that side street and join the evening traffic.

Unfortunately, we as a society in general have become extremely entitled, so we often take for granted the blessings which we already have, writing them off as our ‘just due’, and we neglect showing appreciation for them because we’re so busy focusing on the things we don’t have.

Case in point: My neighbor got into an argument with her teenage daughter last week. Miss Thing said she wanted a new phone for when the new school year starts next month, to which her mother said “Hell to the No” since she only got that phone a year ago when she started high school; and that’s when Miss Thang decided to turn her back on good sense and inform her mother that she didn’t ask to come into this world, so her mother is therefore obligated to cater to her needs.

Sadly for Missy Ma’am, her mother is a fellow Gen Xer, and cellular telephones were not a part of our reality as teenagers. Thus, my neighbor was not of the opinion that a cell phone can be classified as a ‘necessity’, especially while Miss Hot Mouth is at home on vacation, which led to the phone in question being promptly confiscated.

Side-note: Shout out to all the parents out there. You all deserve a gold medal for somehow finding ways to keep yourself sane amidst the whirlwind of insanity that comes with having kids – from the crayon drawings on the walls to the saucy sass that would’ve gotten our teenage mouths washed out with soap back in the day. Much respect to each and every one of you! 💞💞

But back to the topic at hand >>>

That kind of entitlement shows a distinct lack of appreciation for everything we have already received. Like our parents used to say: “Do you know how many people would be happy to have the things you’re too ungrateful to appreciate?”

But expressing our gratitude to someone doesn’t mean we have to put ourselves into debt to buy that person a big expensive gift. We can show our appreciation face-to-face with a sincere ‘thank you’, or even a heartfelt text message to let that person know how much we value them. We can also show our gratitude by returning the favor when that person is in need, or by simply making a conscientious effort to show that person that we aren’t taking their generosity for granted.

So, as we continue our year of self-improvement, I’d like to share a few quotes on the importance of cultivating a spirit of gratitude for everything we have and everything we receive, whether big or small: