If you’re like me, there are times in my life where I feel like I am owed something. I was owed that promotion, or I was owed that awesome parking space, or I was owed the chance to get married and have kids by a certain timeline. Have you ever felt this way? Maybe you were owed that shot at a career, or maybe you were owed the chance to actually have kids, or maybe you were owed the chance to spend your life with your loved one or your child without having them taken away so soon.
I can’t begin to imagine what you may feel like you are owed, or what you feel like life unfairly took from you. What I will say is how long are you going to sit in this place of being owed something? I try to humbly bring it back to the cross in those moments of frustration. Was Jesus owed a chance to live a normal human life without the pressure of perfection and being a sacrifice for the entire world? Were his earthly parents owed the chance to live their life with their firstborn son and not outlive his human body?
I know that seems super spiritual, but it’s just reality. If you are sitting here in a spirit of being “owed” may I challenge you dear friend… sit instead in a spirit of gratitude. My mom told me a story about a woman she met who was so appreciative of my mom’s positive attitude, that she “paid the gratitude forward” by caring for a group of homeless men who just needed a little bit of light.
At the end of the day, while we may not always understand what is happening in life, we also are not always owed what we think we are owed. There are opportunities in each moment to change our thinking. Remove the frustration and bitterness of being owed, and instead choose to focus on how your gratitude for where you are at right now can propel you to another phase in your journey. A phase where you move out of your own personal hell, and into a place where you can actually build a heart of gratitude that not only changes your perspective but can impact the lives of those around you.
