Comfort foods for the soul (10): Gratitude brings relief

The tree may wish to be still, but the wind will not cease; 
The child may wish to care for his parents, but they are no longer there.

Ever regretted you lost the opportunity to be nicer to your parents who are no longer alive?

Or similarly to a spouse?

That must have felt like a ton of weight placed on your chest.

Kind of hard to breathe!

Why did parents appear so unreasonable and irritating when they were alive, and when you were younger?

The lunches they packed.
The clothes they dressed you with.
Even the vacations they took you on.
They were all so not your style!

You were never grateful.
Never told them “thank you.”
Much less “love you.”

Now looking back, you were so small minded, bordering on “mean”.
And you never understood why your younger self were so easily agitated and unforgiving.

You wish, now a bit older, you could take those hostility back.
Regrettably, parents are not there to enjoy a milder you.

Why did you so object to their arrangements, their gifts, and their mere asking?

Perhaps it had to do with autonomy, freedom and individualism.

Perhaps it was just the youthful resentment to others, especially parents, tailoring your next moves.

Perhaps it had to do with immutable generational hostility.

Perhaps.

Just don’t know.
And it doesn’t matter now.

It couldn’t be rewound.
They are not here.
Even if you can act differently!

How much better if you had the wisdom to appreciate and be grateful to their then seemingly annoying arrangements which were genuinely from their goodness of heart!

Just imagine if you could from now on put on a pair of special glasses through which to view people and circumstances that you normally would not accept, let alone be grateful to. 

Just imagine if you could reevaluate from that same perspective, your life so far.

Just imagine how less aggrieved you could feel if you could be a little more amenable to feeling grateful.

It’s a lot more soothing to the soul.

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 
(2 Tim 1:9, New Living Translation)

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
 (Eph 1:3-4, New Living Translation)