My Thoughts for the Day: Give Thanks

Standing on the escalator step at the MRT station, I was staring straight ahead of me, thinking of nothing in particular, more like looking into emptiness, my mind a total blank - completely shagged from a day of sheer hard work.

Suddenly, the poster caught my attention and the famous quote by Ralph H Blum stared right back at me - "There is a calmness to life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy."

These words kept ringing in my mind as I walked from the station to my flat which, is but a stone's throw away. I couldn't comprehend myself at the moment. Why I couldn't shake loose those words from my head; neither did I understand their significance in my life.

I pondered on those words through the night. Even as I sat on my well-used and worn settee listening to Earl Klugh plucking on his acoustic guitar, those words kept flashing across my mind, to the point of irritation. Blum was messing with my music and it was annoying me!

I can't enjoy music unless I give it my 100% concentration which, explains why I 'sit in music' only past midnight when the rest of the world is asleep.

I had to admit defeat, turned off the music and retired to bed. Blum won and those same words rang through my ears incessantly, until I finally fell asleep.

Peace at last.

The next morning I awoke to the tune of Henry Smith's Give Thanks running repeatedly through my mind. I didn't think very much of it at first. I got out of bed and dove straight into the rhythm of my morning ritual - brushing teeth, dressing up and getting ready, in earnest, to face the new day.

On the train, on the way to the office, (at this stage I am normally already out of my morning stupor), I recalled the opening line of the song which is, 'Give thanks with a grateful heart'.

That was when I asked myself, "how often do I give thanks?"

Frankly, not often enough.

I am quite sure I am not alone in this.

At that moment, I resolved to myself that I will give thanks every day of my life. Henceforth, I shall live my life in gratitude.

Individually by themselves, these words were nothing more than just ordinary, used everyday by so many, perhaps without giving much thought to their real underlying meaning.

But put together, they are so dynamic, they possess the power to touch and transform lives.