By Denise Lucas

I start my day with a daily scripture. It grounds me, feeds my soul, gives me wisdom and inspires me to be a blessing to those I encounter daily, serving with a joyful heart, speaking words of encouragement and thankfulness; it makes a difference in their day. There are things to be thankful for. Our simplest abilities—breathing, walking, talking, hearing, seeing—are all gifts that have been given to us without any effort or earning on our part.

Much of our material blessings fall into the same category. That’s not to say it didn’t take effort and resolve to fill out the job application, complete the interview, show up the first day, and then continue to prove yourself to earn your wages. But where did those skills come from in the first place? And how is it that you’ve gone an entire year without using a single sick day? And what about the critical human abilities we exercise when we drive a car, operate a computer, answer the telephone, or walk to the printer?

The truth is, we have all been given abilities and talents that we should appreciate and rejoice over. We may think we should have something more, but perhaps we’ve been given precisely what we need. Blessings, indeed, surround us every day.

Here are a few of my favorite inspiring verses:

Don’t jump to conclusions – there may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw. Prov. 25:8

The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old. Prov. 20:29