Keep your face always toward the sunshine & shadows will fall behind you — Walt Whitman

Complain or Give Thanks? It’s Up to YOU!

It seems there is always something to complain about: the weather. Right now it is hot. But I am grateful that while it might be hot where I am, there are other places where it is hotter. I am grateful that I can sleep in a cool room. I am grateful that I don’t have to work outside in the hot weather. I am grateful I have air conditioned transportation to take me from place to place.

Or I might complain about my body, how my knees creak when I go downstairs. And I am grateful that I can go up & down the stairs, that my legs & creaky knees work together getting me from floor to floor effectively & fairly efficiently. All those stairs are probably keeping my body healthier, too.

Instead of complaining, what if we gave thanks for what is, even if it is a challenge. I give thanks for this challenge in my life today, knowing there is a lesson for me to learn in it. Our spiritual path is strewn with flowers (blessings) & rocks (challenges) & we can choose how we look at each of them. I choose to look at the rocks as stepping stones to more flowers.

AFFIRMATION
I am alive & embrace sobriety! Thank you God!

Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Clergy Counselor