Happy New Year!

from Life Discovery Ministries

Dear Friends,   For many of us it seems like the New Year is a time of reflection. We go back over our past year to re-live the highlights...and often the low points, too. Either way, we strive to make sense of the events of our lives and put them in the proper perspective. I have found that an "attitude of gratitude" helps in times like these. I recently read an article about Rabbi Henry Glazer. Rabbi Glazer always knew something was missing in his relationship with God. One day, while lifting his prayer shawl over his head, he just began sobbing. He says he felt the overwhelming need to say to God, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wanted to say 'thank you' for just being alive." It was a turning point in his life. Shortly after that experience Rabbi Glazer launched an online blog about gratefulness and wrote a book titled I Thank, Therefore I Am: Gateways to Gratefulness. He says his journey toward developing a grateful heart has given him a greater calm and a sense of security, optimism and hopefulness. "Gratitude," he writes, "allows you to say, 'Life is a gift.'" Research backs that up. Experts say that gratitude is a powerful emotion that makes us feel more connected to the people we love. It helps us maintain a positive outlook; it can transform our lives because it causes us to takes the focus off ourselves. The good news is that to be grateful is a choice we get to make every day, and it is not based on what is going on around us. The apostle Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thes. 5:16 No, gratitude has little to do with our circumstances; it is a mindset - a way of viewing the world. Gratitude is a prerequisite for joy. It creates a heart that is open, generous, and free to love. And it is the will of our Father that we are grateful. Why not make a conscious decision this year to practice gratitude? (Now that is a good New Years Resolution.) My friend, Paul, told me today that he encourages people to put gratefulness into action so it doesn't just stay inside us. He thinks we should write a note or card to express gratitude to those who have touched our lives. It makes the gratitude "live." I think that's cool. So I say to you, Thank You for being a part of this Life Discovery community! Your love, participation, support and prayers mean so much. You are my community, and I am enriched through having the chance to serve you and to work alongside you as we serve others.

With gratitude & thanks,

Greg

Life Discovery