Life is a Gift

During this holiday season I am reminded that life is a gift – a wonderful gift. Waking up each morning I realize that it is a new day and I have been given this precious gift of life and the best part is I can choose to use this gift any way I want.

My first thoughts turn to gratitude in being alive and able to have another day to celebrate my life. Being grateful for each breath I take and each opportunity I will have to be the person I’m meant to be is the first thing I do each morning. And then I ask myself, “How will you live this day?”

Knowing that I’ve been given the opportunity to lead a life centered in Christ, my life should be an example of that gift. In what place to I stand when given the opportunity to choose how I live? Will it be in joy, in love, in compassion, and lovingkindness? Can I be the person I am called to be? Can I walk-the-walk reflecting the light of God to all I meet? Will I accept this gift in the manner in which it was given – with wholeness and holiness?

First I must learn to accept that everything I do is a reflection of God’s love for me. I have life so the Living God can have life. Over the past ten months my life has been a journey of renewal in many ways, but one has been the commitment to lose weight. Someone recently commented on the change in my appearance and I gave them my usual spill, that I took a look at myself and did not like what I saw. I told them it was a God thing. She looked at me and I went on to say that I told God, “If I live so you can live then we better lose this weight so we both can have fun and be healthy.” My friend blinked a couple of times and then said, “Beautiful; just beautiful.” Twenty-four pounds later, both God and I are happy, healthier, and enjoying the gift of life.

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” ~ Psalm 118:24