One of the biggest mistakes we can make in life is ingratitude, taking things for granted. Life becomes busy and, in our efforts to succeed, we lose touch with many important things, things we are truly blessed with.
While we are healthy, we push and “succeed” at the cost of our health. It is only when we are sick that we pause and realize how wonderful good health is and what a blessing it is in our lives. We resolve to take better care of ourselves – until we get better and begin to take good health for granted again.
We have parents and grandparents who love us and love spending time with us. We say we love them but in our busyness of our life’s endeavors we hardly spend any time with them at all. When we lose one, we resolve to spend more time with the others. We usually do, until we start to take them for granted.
We have our families and spouses and enjoy the love and laughter we have together. A disagreement may disrupt the family from gathering. A spouse can be prematurely taken from us. When we realize they were taken for granted, it can be too late.
We have incredible friends who care for us like brothers and sisters. In times of need we see how important they are and how blessed we are to have them in our lives, only to ignore them when times are good and we become busy with life.
We are surrounded by nature. The night sky is always there. The sun never fails to rise. The tide comes in and goes out without direction. The sounds of birds greet us by day and crickets by night. The trees offer us shade and reprieve. Mountains, valleys, seas and rivers and the ocean offer a majestic site that reminds us of our smallness and instills peace in our heart. We see all this on vacations and weekend trips, only to forget when Monday comes and all we can see is our frantic race to nowhere. We take the everyday occurrence of these gifts for granted.
The saddest fact is that in doing all this we take for granted the most precious gift in our lives, God our loving Father. In times of need we remember him. We come in all haste to ask for his help. And in good times, we simply forget him.
Time and space are made in our lives for hobbies, sports, career, education, and recreation. This is even evident as we wear clothing advertising these things that are important to us or make us feel accomplished, even hanging pictures related to these things prominently in our homes and places of business.
We must make time and space for the gifts we take for granted. They will never be a real part of our life if we do not. For most, it really is time to hit the pause button on life and examine what is truly the most important. Life must be built around these things; they are not to be inserted into life where most convenient. The task is to be present. When we are with someone, let them be the most important thing. Even strangers! If you meet someone, let them be important to you. Let them know that they matter. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” (St. Mother Teresa) Friends, family, spouses, aging parents and grandparents, nature and all its beauty, will only be appreciated through the lens of God. It is imperative to have Christ at the center of our lives and build everything around and upon him. This is when we will start seeing these things spoken about as the gifts they are and not take them for granted. It all starts with not taking our faith for granted, rather seeing it as the very essence of our existence. We get to this point through prayer. When we pray or go to Mass, we need to be fully present with God. “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or out of the depths of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that we do not know how to pray as we ought, are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. Man is a beggar before God” (CCC 2559)
What time and space have we made for God in our homes? In our work? In our leisure? In our friendships? In our families? In our interaction with strangers? If we do not give time and space for God, we will never be able to offer proper time and space to anything else. It really is “God or nothing”.
“In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give him thanks.” (St. Teresa of Avila)
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