End the Year with Gratitude

So it is not happiness that makes us grateful. It's gratefulness that makes us happy. If you think it's happiness that makes you grateful, think again. It's gratefulness that makes you happy.

                                                                                                            - Bro. David Steinl-Rast

             I have to say that 2015 has been a great year for me. It’s a year of accomplishments and realizations, it made me taste what and how a really busy life goes.  It has taught me how to value my time more and value the people who really matter.  The year has been driven by tough decisions I had to make, life offers a lot options to choose from and it demands that we choose whatever is best. It’s never easy but there is always something to be thankful about.

            Gratitude, doesn’t end with what we have received and being thankful for them but being thankful and being ready to share what we have received to those in need. That is perhaps, as I see it, gratitude in its truest sense. So let me begin with my immediate family who have always showed deep concern and care for me. My parents and siblings were always ready to listen and talk to me about my plans and decisions I have to make. The guidance they have provided proved how strong the family supports each member. I have seen that support a lot of times and although they are always physically far from me, distance is not a limiting factor anymore because of technology.

            Let me express my gratitude to the people who have devoted, shared and even gave their time and effort in helping me during the times when I was trying to finish my Masters in the university. They are the professors and friends who have given their words of encouragement during the time when I was at the edge of making or not making it to this year’s graduation rites. I’ve seen how things which have fallen apart fall into place.

            I’d like to give my appreciation and gratitude to my former students who have now become part of a team (Arboists) working with me. It is that time when I am aware I cannot do all things alone, your assistance have contributed a lot and I look forward to working with you more in the coming years.  

            I am definitely grateful for my friends and colleagues, for making work a little easier to carry, work is more meaningful when it is done and spent with you. The organization is not perfect but our awareness that it is not, makes us grow.

            I am very thankful for the miracles this year! Strangers who have helped me when I literally fell off my motorbike, planned and unexpected visits from friends, people who offered help and accommodation during my visit to different places, new friends I gained in my trips, making it through life’s problems and finding the courage to pray. It is true. It is all in His grace. An Saiyang padagos na pagcamoot satuya! With these, I'd like to say I am ready to meet 2016, begin the year also with gratefulness and whatever it brings I am quite sure there's always a reason to be thankful!

               Happy and Peaceful New Year to All!