God,

You've been good to me my whole life. Certainly, there have been difficult, hard and painful things. But in time, even those things can be seen for what they really are (opportunities to experience all of the dramatic beauty that is life). God, You are really good and I've failed to see it so many times.

Help me to see the majestic beauty surrounding me. Allow me to understand what a fantastic opportunity I've been given to live life. Show me the enormous opportunities that are made available to me every day. Show me the power that You have put within my days to change the lives of others by my choices. Show me how precious a thing life really is.

Help me to realize that life is what I make of it. I can take what is thrown at me and whine about it or I can realize that difficulties are simply distractions from real life. I can either be distracted from living life by the difficulties, or I can ignore them and live my life despite them. Help me to make the better choice.

I want to see life as the precious gift that it is. I don’t want to ignore another person. I refuse to lose another chance at bringing life to someone in deep need of it. I want to rejoice in life because that is why You made me. You rejoice in the wonder that is life despite all of the evil that goes on. You are at constant peace in Your joy and I want to join You there.

I want to rejoice in life even on the days when I’m only given 1% or life and 99% of junk. I want to gulp down every last ounce of life You make available to me. I believe that if I were to make use of even one percent of the life You gave me today, it would have been more than enough to satisfy all of my desires. If I were to consume one tenth of the life You give me today, You would make even more available to me tomorrow. The truth is, You offer so much and I’m content to have so little of it. My appetite is far too limited. You offer a feast and I’m contented to nibble on dry crumbs.

Give me a thankful heart. What I mean by that is give me the ability to drink much more deeply of the life available to me. Increase my appetite for life. Give me an insatiable thirst for living as You intended (not wasted on the empty pursuit of pleasure, but on appreciating the beauty of everything You’ve made and investing myself deeply into each opportunity You give).

Let me rejoice over the person You made me to be so that You can enjoy me more thoroughly. You desire to enjoy me profoundly more than I can imagine; yet, I limit Your joy because I fail to enjoy the life You’ve given me. Increase my joy of life so that Your enjoyment of me can grow proportionately.

Thank You for life! Thank You for the opportunity to stop and listen to the silence and in that silence to hear Your heartbeat. Thank You for giving me life! Bless You for pursuing me so diligently. I want so much more of what You have for me. Teach me to not be so easily satisfied with so very little when You have so much more for me to enjoy (so that as my enjoyment abounds, so too will Your enjoyment of me). This icon represents the end of an article. 

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About the Author Many of John's writings have been published in an assortment of magazines and professional journals. He's also authored many strategic white papers and one book. His content spans such topics as spirituality, technology, media and their impact on our global culture. For the past 25 years he's worked as a technology strategist and consultant, a media producer and director and writer. He is passionate about seeing people break free of their constraints and find fulfillment in pursuit of their dreams and destiny. He and his wife Anita live in Fort Worth.