Gratitude

I realized today that I am grateful for all the bad things that have happened to me in my life because they have given me a new "eye" and made me more able to recognize, and appreciate, the good. 

If you suddenly couldn't smell, but then gained your sense of smell back, you would stop and smell those roses like never before, and you would take it all in, appreciating every nuance.  You would remember what it was like when you couldn't smell, and you would be grateful for the opportunity to have lost it so that you could appreciate it now and forever.

I could go on and on with a hundred examples, but I'm sure you get the point. 

I remember how limited my life was on four wheels, and I am so very grateful to have a lot of those limitations lifted.  Just the ability to climb stairs again, however slow and difficult it still might be, is a true gift.  Just typing this right now is something I thought I might never be able to do again when I couldn't even lift my own arm to scratch my nose (both of which I also couldn't feel).

In every difficult situation is an opportunity to learn an important life lesson, and grow, and become better. 

I am grateful to be alive.  I am grateful to have feelings and to be able to feel pain so that I may be reminded of this life that I need to appreciate.  Good or bad.