Grateful

Today I listened to Carole Lewis talk about mental health on the CD that came with our First Place bible study. As I'm finding with all of the First Place materials, I was surprised at the content. It's wonderful!! I would recommend it to all of you.

One comment she made (and she made several that I'll probably refer back to later) was, "It is better to be humbly grateful than to be grumbly hateful." Wow! This stuck with me for the rest of the drive home from the gym. I began to think about things I've gone through that weren't the best experiences but how I have tried to glean something beneficial from them. For example, being overweight is not what you would call a great experience. However, I hope that it has taught me to be compassionate to people who are hurting, whether or not I see their pain as significant or not.

About a year ago, my grandpa was given six months to live after he was diagnosed with cancer. It has spread throughout his body and is untreatable. But I thank God Grandpa was at least given some "notice," rather than dying suddenly. I thank God Grandpa is able to reevaluate his life and make some decisions about how he wants to live his life. I thank God Grandpa is able to go fishing, hunting, and spend time with his family rather than living in a hospital. I thank God Grandpa is living without pain.

So yes, I am humbly grateful. I'll do my best not to grumble.