In the last year, I have perfected a gratitude practice I first began at the job before I became so ill last December. At that job I made it a point to seek out three things I was grateful for every day, or to just make it a point to find that joy in someone else. Between God and I, we found gratitude and joy daily in that job where it would have otherwise been hard to find some days. Most things in life are that way.
This year has been a rollercoaster for most of us. Personally speaking, it has been horrific to joyous and everything in between for me. I lost a great deal of my physicality this year, friends, privacy to an extent, a beloved family member to COVID, and have relocated to a different state to obtain the care i need to stay alive….surprising to some I’m sure is that that is the short list! I also became myself this year. I have honed and perfected my scrappiness, can be vibrantly Catholic, have no secrets, have lost the ability to be dishonest, and have developed the ability to find joy and gratitude daily amidst what is sometimes a LOT of suffering physically.
I don’t know why things happen that aren’t awesome, even horrific. But to paraphrase a Mother Angelica quote, it’s the matter that we accept our suffering that makes us holy. It was tough for Him too! There are always moments of gratitude and joy that can be found daily. We just have to hunt for them and to realize that this life is a grain of sand compared to eternity with God. And also that joyous and grateful moments 9 times out of 10 come straight down the pipe from Him.