Silent Gratitude Helps No One

Today is known as Thanksgiving in the United States of America. A day or I should say a holiday set apart in which you express your gratitude and what you are thankful for in your life. A lot of people gather around the table with family and friends to a feast that usually causes one to leave the table saying, "I think I ate too much." What are you grateful for in your life? Do you keep that gratitude silent and just grateful in your mind when you think about it or do you take the next step and tell those in your life that you are grateful for them and the influence they had or have in your life to help you walk a better life as a Christian? Gratitude when I looked it up simply means thankfulness. Do not let yourself go to the grave without telling the people that you love and cherish in your life how much you are grateful for the influence they had or have in your life which causes you to walk a better life than if they were not in your life.
If your heart truly is filled with love and compassion, you do know that love was placed there by Jesus. He is love and when you ask Him into your heart and life His love begins to flood your being. Let go of hurts you may have had as a child or a marriage that may have not worked out like you thought it would when you first got married. The past is the past and if you have truly asked forgiveness from Jesus your sins are now buried in the lake of forgetfulness never to be dragged out of that lake again. The only way they are is if you choose to drag them out again and re-hash the old history in your life. Why would you do that for life is but a vapor we are here one day and then gone the next day. Live your life with no haunting regrets and be open to receiving life into your life. Why would a person choose to see doom and gloom when if they just kept walking and turned a corner there is a bright and warm sun waiting to greet you and your life? You can either choose to sit in gloom and doom or see the brightness that is waiting to burst forth in your life.
I am most thankful for the opportunity to be able to share my life with wonderful people all around the world. Such a blessing that is to me and I trust that some portion of what I write touches your heart and life. If you have read any of my blogs you will know that my life as a writer started in a time of hardship and toil in my life and through the process I have grown to love the Lord and people and healing took place in my heart and life. I am not the same person like I was back then, when anger would just rise up in me and the slightest thing would trigger it. My anger came forth through hurtful words and swearing too. People that know me now would say they see me as a person that loves people and when I see a person I love to nurture them and lift them up. One thing I can honestly say through my experiences is that I am able to see a hurting heart and then the compassionate side of me goes into motion to reach out and ease the burden in that person. It truly costs you nothing other than time to take a moment or two out of your day to let someone know you are thinking of them or how much of a blessing they are to you. Do not let this day go by without telling someone you love them or what a blessing they are to you. Step outside of your box of comfort and reach out to another and trust me, in doing so you will find such satisfaction and your heart will leap with joy and even a love that you did not know existed prior to stepping out in faith in this arena. Compare it to this, you are married and there is love between a husband and wife and then you find out you are going to have a child. You begin to think to yourself odd thoughts like this, what if the baby is born and I won't know how to love it? Isn't it amazing when you look back now if you have children how each time a child was born the love sprung forth from your heart? That is the same thing waiting for you to happen when you step out of your comfort zone and told someone how much their time, finances, care, encouragement or whatever it is that they bring to your life is, you are grateful.
Being kind, compassionate, and loving too are all qualities that should be emulated in your life by following the example of Jesus. He did operate in them so how much more should we also emulate them if we call ourselves Christians, you know, those that follow Jesus Christ? Just a little piece of something to think about. Be blessed this very day and know that a heart filled with gratitude is a heart filled with love.
One more concluding thought, was compassion always a part of who I am? Yes, it is a part of who I am but I believe it was masked under hurt, pain and suffering. When  I was set free and found myself being healed from that stuff then compassion was free to be released in a greater capacity than prior to that since it was not being held down by what needed to be healed in me. Take a chance and find healing of your heart and let go of past hurts. When you release them you then have the capacity to truly heal and to let love into your life. Not just love but compassion will burst forth in a pronounced way if you will allow it to. Remember, do not just be the bearer of compassion into the lives of others but it is OK for you to be able to receive compassion from others.