Good Morning, Digital Neighbors, and Blessed Sunday to one and all! Sundays are for gratitude, and few things impact our lives more than intentional gratitude. It is not enough to say you are blessed or that you are fortunate, but the actual naming of them places them in the heart for the transformation of your person rather than the bland “thankful for everything.” A year ago, I wrote this reflection on resentment and gratitude, and I think in light of the celebration of resentment yesterday by our friends with emotional disorders and mental illnesses, it is worth repeating. I have done some additional editing and tweaking of this post.

You cannot build a future based on resentments of the past. You cannot grow if you are mired in the injuries of yesterday. God and life do not call us to ignore such experiences, but He constantly calls us forward, to be more, to receive more, to live more. Heal those wounds, work through those injuries, but do not be defined by them and do not try to build a future upon them. They are part of your story but not part of your foundation. Your foundation is how you overcame them, not how you held them in an embittered heart and enslaved mind.

The more I live, the more I realize the gift of it all. The realization of life’s giftedness prompts gratitude in those who are whole and envy in those who are not. God’s conversation with Cain is to serve more freely and faithfully like Abel, and Cain too would be blessed. Cain need not be resentful, envious, murderous. It fell on deaf ears. Envy had already hardened Cain’s heart. The remedy for envy is kindness, simple acts of consideration for your neighbor. It is more than just being nice, which so often is what many virtues get reduced to in the last few decades. Kindness is that helpfulness toward someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped. I saw this sign years ago and it applies to my ramble and the quotes below:

Human kind – Be both. Have a good day, digital neighbors!

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” —Dr. Seuss

“Choice, not chance,
determines your destiny.
It’s up to you to decide what you are worth,
how you matter,
and how you make meaning in the world.
No one else has your gifts,
your set of talents, ideas, interests.
You are an original.
A masterpiece.”
— Regina Brett

“What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
― Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer

Glory to You for the feast-day of life.
Glory to You for the perfume of lilies and roses.
Glory to You for each different taste of berry and fruit.
Glory to You for the sparkling silver of early morning dew.
Glory to You for the joy of dawn’s awakening.
Glory to You for the new life each day brings.
— Gregory Petrov

Autumn lakeside - Ricardo Gomez Angel - Unsplash