A MOMENT OF GRATITUDE

"A day without prayer is a day without blessing, and a life without prayer is a life without power." - Edwin Harvey

Do you pray?

Do you give thanks?

Do you ask for things from a higher power?

Do you show gratitude towards the things in your life that you have been blessed with?

Before I get started here let me set one thing straight…..

I don’t give a fuck who, or what you pray to. That is none of my business. That’s your business. But most people believe in some form of a higher power and that there is some form of god that oversees our lives as individuals. And okay, maybe you’re not most people. It is possible that you don’t believe anything. That’s perfectly fine by me. I’m just here to explain what I do and how it has helped me.

Growing up, I was raised Catholic. Baptized, 1st Communion, and Confirmed through the Catholic Church. I also spent eight years attending Catholic schools. And though my parents weren’t particularly religious, they felt that it was important that I was involved with their preferred form of worship.

Thinking as far back into my childhood as I can, I remember being a small boy and my Nana teaching me how to pray. She used to pray every night. Typically, she would ask God to bless our family and then she would say either the Hail Mary or Our Father prayer prior to going to sleep. I thought that was so cool! I wanted to pray every night as well, but being a child with the attention span of a squirrel, I would often forget.

As I grew older, I began to lose faith in prayer. It seemed like each year at least one person (or sometimes multiple people) that I knew would die. My life wasn’t going quite the way I had hoped. I was fat. I was often sad. My attitude sucked. And my solution was to blame God for giving me a shitty hand. “Why should I pray to God if he doesn’t give a fuck about me or my family?” was a thought that would often go through my head.

Rather than assuming responsibility for my life and what was happening, God became my scapegoat. I used him as an out to not have to look in the mirror. I blamed him for everything I was dissatisfied with in my life. It was His fault… Or was it?

Because it wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to understand that I had it all wrong. I had more control of my life than I had ever realized. And all of the “good” and “bad” things that were happening to me were all part of a process. They were opportunities. They were experiences. He was blessing me in ways that I had never allowed myself to see before.

I finally understood, for the first time in my life, prayer wasn’t necessarily about asking for shit…

It was more so about GRATITUDE.

And once I finally understood this concept, prayer became an effective, daily part of my life.

So just about every morning for the past six months, I’ve said the same prayer:

Lord God,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for another opportunity to live on this beautiful earth. Thank you for everything that you have blessed me with.

My health. Mental, physical and emotional.

My traits and abilities. Strength, courage, and awareness.

Opportunities and experiences. All of them; both good and bad.

But most importantly, thank you for the people in my life that you have blessed me with.

My beautiful Wife.

My Mom and Dad.

My Sister.

My friends and family.

My dogs.

I thank you for all of the experiences that these people have provided me, both good and bad as my life has no meaning without them. I am who I am because of the influence of all of these people.

I pray that you keep all of my people safe, happy and healthy today. And that you bless them with the same traits which you have blessed me with, so that they can face their fears and take the steps towards becoming their best selves.

Lastly Lord, I ask that you put the words into my mouth and the people in front of me that need to hear those words.

I thank you for all that you do. Amen.

And then I finish by saying the Our Father prayer.

I share this with you because it has helped me tremendously. I spent so many years asking God to fix my problems and hating him for not always doing so, whereas now, I thank him for everything that he does for me and those that I love. My prayer is gratitude. I am expressing how grateful I am for everything that happens in my life, and not blaming Him but working to fucking own it. And in return, my life has continued to get better.

So again, I don’t give a shit who you pray to and I don’t care what religion you follow. I don’t care if you go to church or not, but being grateful for what you have and who you are sends a message to the universe that you appreciate life. And in time, the universe (or your god) will return that appreciation to you.