on gratitude

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. - Albert Schweitzer

this year will not end without saying a word about gratitude. this is perhaps the best time to look back and reflect on the things we should be really thankful for. at the end of this entry, we should be able to answer these: "how grateful have i been?" and "how can i be more grateful?"

"give us this day our daily bread"...a line from the famous Christian prayer. we look at the fact that we have been provided with the daily necessities of life. from food to shelter. three meals a day and we never get hungry. our daily bread. 365 days of not lacking the basic necessities is one deep reason to be thankful. in reality, we have been given more than our daily bread, but most of us (this includes me) are still worried on how to have more. they say that human wants is insatiable, that we can never get contented once we have experienced a certain degree of satisfaction. we tend to want more and more of the things we believe could make us feel satisfied. from "give us this day our daily bread" to "just give me more bread". this is because we are not thankful for the things we already have or we have received, instead we focus on the things we don't have and how we can acquire them. we end up either temporarily satisfied or disappointed.

another reason to be thankful is that we were not created to live alone. we are surrounded by our loved ones, our friends, people who care for us. Albert Schweitzer, a philosopher and a theologian, has said it well, they are the people who provide the spark to rekindle our light whenever it goes out. they are those who console us in times of loneliness and despair, they are the people who are always willing to support and protect us whenever we feel weak. we know who they are and we know that they deserve our deep gratitude.

have we also been thankful for the 'not-so-good' things, the bad things, the trials and struggles of life?being thankful does not only include the good things but also things which may have caused suffering but have made us better people.