Do you look at life with gratitude?
December 2024
With the world as crazy as it is—war raging in Ukraine, prolific child sex trafficking, throngs of illegals invading our country, and crimes against humanity pervasive throughout the world—it’s easy to succumb to feeling depressed, angry and hopeless every time you see the news.
On top of all that, you may have recently lost a precious friend or loved one. Maybe you had to cancel a long-anticipated adventure due to illness, injury or a downturn in finances. Perhaps you lost your job, or weren’t selected for a promotion or elected to a public office that you worked so hard to win. Maybe you even lost your home and everything you owned because of a devastating flood or fire or tornado or hurricane.
Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us when we least expect them. Yet, regardless of the hardships you’ve endured this year, the fact that you’re reading this says it all. You survived.
Be grateful that the good Lord brought you to this very place—along the path you traversed. With every step, that journey made you stronger and wiser.
As each year ends, I usually encourage my executive clients to take account of their many expectations and outcomes achieved during the year. What were the hits? What were the misses? Too often, we focus more on the misses—the coulda-woulda-shouldas— and how we’ll improve our batting average next season.
There’s nothing wrong with that approach. Heaven knows, with a can-do attitude you can always improve your swing. But let’s not forget the importance of accounting for all the love and goodness in our lives, irrespective of our intensions. Whatever your current situation may be, there is so much to be grateful for.
This year, rather than counting regrets, consider taking some time to just slow down. Take a deep breath and reflect on your many blessings. Give heartfelt thanks for being on the path the good Lord is guiding you down.
For the last several months, I’ve been anxiously anticipating a super fun and exciting end-of-year. With a calendar filled with holiday season travel, I deliberately turned down several invitations in October and November to ensure my husband and I could breathe a bit before embarking on our long-awaited holiday season journeys throughout the Americas.
But then the unexpected happened.
In mid-September I was to speak at a women’s empowerment conference in Orlando. But the weeks before the conference delivered storm after storm after storm—not terribly bad storms, but in totality they generated so much rain that the ground throughout our low-lying island region was completely waterlogged.
All packed and ready to go on the night before the Orlando conference festivities were to begin, my husband and I were to attend a dinner party a few miles away. But the storm that day caused so much flooding across our island that our dinner host had no choice but to cancel the event.
Gazing out my kitchen window, I saw a massive lake where our courtyard and private drive had been. Grateful for the chance to spend an unexpected quiet evening at home before departing early the next day, I prayed the sea of standing water would recede by morning.
Unfortunately, by dawn the floodwater had deepened. I doubted we could even get out of our courtyard without an offroad vehicle. To make matters worse, when my husband awakened, he was–out of the blue—experiencing such severe back pain that he could barely get out of bed. It was obvious he could not endure the drive to Orlando, and I certainly couldn’t leave him alone to fend for himself in such a condition.
For the first time ever, I cancelled my conference appearance. Feeling guilty about backing out at the last minute, I had to remind myself that the Lord is in control and my husband’s health and wellbeing are far more important priorities. So, not able to go anywhere, we simply made the best of an unanticipated relaxing weekend.
The following week my husband began a multi-week regime with a chiropractor—which is still ongoing. While he has experienced some interludes of improvement, the overall trend is less than optimal, and he is still waiting to see a neurologist to determine the underlying issue.
Fortunately, when Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida in early October, originally forecast as a Cat 5, we were able to evacuate to an inland hotel. Since my husband’s birthday was that week, we laughingly called our adventure his birthday gift. Fortuitously, some dear friends also evacuated to the same hotel, so we celebrated together over delightful dinners each evening. Ultimately, we were extremely grateful that Milton barely left a mark on our northeast corner of Florida.
During the next two weeks I was on-call for jury duty, so I pre-cleared my calendar for that duration. Since the call to appear for jury service never came, I was able to chauffeur my husband to his semiweekly chiropractor appointments.
Months ago, we had pre-paid for a post-Thanksgiving family vacation to Roatan with our youngest son and grandbabies. But with my husband still suffering back issues, we’ve had to cancel that trip, too. Thankfully, the hotel offered us a credit note, which is usable anytime in the next twelve months. We still look forward to enjoying Roatan one of these days.
Perhaps the extra time at home will allow my husband to finally get diagnosed and recover before we embark on a long-planned New Years cruise through the Caribbean and up the Amazon (which for various reasons has been cancelled every year since 2020).
How well we now know that our plans are not always in concert with God’s plan. Still, we look at life with gratitude and rest in the knowledge that His plans are perfect.
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While putting the finishing touches on this missive, my officemate / husband sent me an email. Expecting it was a joke or a cartoon from one of his friends, I was stunned to find the message was, coincidentally, a reflection on looking at life with gratitude—written by him (believe it or not, he had no idea I was writing this!). I’d like to share it with you:
Today I hit pause on the daily rush of life and stopped to reflect on the question often asked of me on this day. After an exhale that seemed long overdue, my thoughts turned to the many blessings I take for granted, endowed on me by our Creator. A world of splendor...beautiful beyond words and incredibly complex beyond imagination. As I now look out of my window at the beautiful Live Oak trees with their Spanish moss hanging from them; the beautiful blooming Azaleas in a variety of colors; the changing colors of the River Birch trees; and the bright yellow and orange of the citrus trees, I wonder how I didn't just stop every day and take all that in and give thanks each day.
Now, my thoughts turn to the people who are in my life & thoughts every day. My wonderful wife and soul mate; our three sons and their wives and children; my in-laws who are closer to me than my own family; my dear friends who probably don't realize just how much they impact and enrich my life, but if you receive this, you are one of them.
Lastly, I am very thankful for my health, as imperfect as it is. In times of trouble, I think of all those who are so less fortunate than I in this respect.
May you have a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Chris
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Now, dear friends, I hope you, too, will take time to reflect on your many blessings with gratitude. Take nothing for granted, as it could all be gone in a heartbeat. Appreciate whatever life brings your way, every day.