Prayer

Lord,

Take my life and let me live serenely for today.

Open my mind to happy thoughts.

Take away my self-pity, I don’t want it.

Take away my ill will towards others.

Make it possible for me to feel joy, love, and compassion.

Help me to accept what is, to hold my tongue, to do my daily task, and to let go with love.

Take away my worry about the future.

Make me realize that in your hands everything will be provided.

Help me to understand that I have no control over anything but my own actions.

Make me know that today is precious and will soon be gone.

Help me to remember that all hatred and pain directed toward me are the hatred and pain the other person is feeling toward himself.

Thank you for your willingness to accept my burden and lighten my load.

~~ By Unknown

2nd Sunday of Lent

Every year on the second Sunday of Lent, the first reading highlights an aspect of Abraham’s relationship with God and the Gospel recounts the Transfiguration. What struck me about these readings this year is that Abram, Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Peter, James and John all heard the voice of God; they listened to God and acted on God’s directives. God tells Abram to “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1–2) and “Abram went as the LORD directed him” (Genesis 12:4).  Moses listened to God, liberated the children of Israel, led them to the Promised Land and provided them and us with the Biblical books of the law. Elijah heard the voice of God in a tiny whispering sound and went on to become the first of the great prophets. 

In his Message for Lent 2026, Pope Leo XIV focuses on, Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion.  The Holy Father tells us that, “In revealing himself to Moses in the burning bush, God himself teaches us that listening is one of his defining characteristics: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry” (Ex 3:7). God Listens to us and hears us.  We, in turn, should listen to God. Pope Leo writes, “Our God is one who seeks to involve us. Even today he shares with us what is in his heart. Because of this, listening to the word in the liturgy teaches us to listen to the truth of reality…. In order to foster this inner openness to listening, we must allow God to teach us how to listen as he does.” 

Peter, James and John heard the voice of God proclaim the transfigured Jesus His “beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  They did listen to Jesus and in spite of their human failings and weaknesses; they became the fathers of our church.   Like these great men of scripture, God tells us to listen to Jesus.  We hear the word of God proclaimed every Sunday. Last week we heard Jesus remind the devil that “one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). 

Jesus listened for his Father’s voice in moments of fasting, solitude and prayer.  Lent is the perfect time for us to be still, to be silent, to fast, to pray and to open our hearts and minds so that we too can hear the voice of God directing our lives.  All we have to do is stop, open our hearts and “listen to him.” 

God our Father, 

 help us to hear your Son. 

Enlighten us with your word, 

that we may find the way to your glory. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Listen to These Words of Mine

Listen to these words of mine.

We all must take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those who live in big cities like London and New York, where everything moves so fast. This is why I decided to open our first home for contemplative sisters (whose vocation is to pray most of the day) in New York instead of the Himalayas: I felt silence and contemplation were needed more in the cities of the world. I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul-as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul-and it brings you closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others. When you have a clean heart it means you are open and honest with God, you are not hiding anything from Him, and this lets Him take what He wants from you.

~ Mother Teresa

Morning Prayer

I Feared

I feared being alone until I learned to like myself.

I feared failure until I realized that I only fail when I don't try.

I feared success until I realized that I had to try in order to be happy with myself.

I feared peoples opinions until I learned that people would have opinions about me anyway.

I feared rejection until I learned to have faith in myself.

I feared pain until I learned that it's necessary for growth.

I feared the truth until I saw the ugliness in lies.

I feared life until I experienced its beauty.

I feared death until I realized that it's not an end but a beginning.

I feared my destiny until I realized that I had the power to change my life.

I feared hate until I realized it was nothing more than ignorance.

I feared love until it touched my heart making the darkness fade into endless sunny days.

I feared ridicule until I learned to laugh at myself.

I feared growing old until I realized that I gained wisdom everyday.

I feared the future until I realized that life just kept getting better everyday.

I feared the past until I realized that it could no longer hurt me.

I feared the darkness until I saw the beauty of the starlight.

I feared the light until I learned that the truth would give me strength.

I feared change until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly had to undergo a metamorphosis before it could fly.

Source Unknown

Thoughts About Lent

Many think about Lent in terms of giving up something. Usually we think of something we would be better off without anyway – like sugar, nicotine, caffeine, etc. Kind of like a New Year’s Resolution – only for 40 days and not a whole year. (Maybe that should tell us something!) Fasting may be a good place to start. I don’t know if Lent is really about our taste buds, though. Sometimes instead of giving up something, we add more to our already busy schedule – more exercise, more cleaning, more letters written, etc. That might not be the best way to enter Lent either.

Maybe Lent could be more like a retreat – a time to get away from our busy lives and deepen our awareness of God and to discover ourselves. When we discover God, we discover God’s Love. Or rather we discover Loving. A bishop told me once that God is a Verb – not a thing! Lent is a time to get away, like Jesus did to think, to pray and to be still. Maybe God is what moves our hearts and heals our wounds. I was at a baby shower last week in L.A. where my daughter lives and told them to tell their child that they love him every day – if necessary use words. Of course, it’s a preparation for something, too. Lent has been referred to as a communal retreat for Christians. We are getting ready for Holy Week and Easter. Certainly, we in recovery have been called back to life and freed from the bondage of our addiction.

A danger exists for some of us – we can get lost in our heads if we’re not careful. There’s an old saying, “My mind is a dangerous place to go alone.” So perhaps Lent is not a time to get our heads lost in the clouds, but rather to come down to earth and look at who we are and what our needs are all about. Our spirituality is less about finding God on some mountaintop than finding God in our own hearts.

When Jesus went into the desert to pray, he experienced the three temptations which are basic to all humans. We experience the same temptations, or needs, today – for security, for power or control, and for affection or esteem. If we can’t identify our needs and take care of them in healthy ways, we are liable to take care of them in unhealthy ways. That’s part of our humanness, too.

Most of us are probably familiar with the hierarchy of needs Maslow described – the need for food, security, love and nurturing, achievement, and self-esteem.

However, many of us develop some unhealthy needs along the way. They include – the need to know, to explain, to be right, to get even, to look good, to judge, to keep score, to feel comfortable, to be entertained, to feel important and to be in control. Maybe we can learn to let go of them.

Lent is a time to look at temptation and needs and at the struggles we encounter in recovery. Those struggles and needs are what call us to escape from ourselves and from God. Where do we go? For most of us, it’s the comfortable and familiar places we’ve been before, even though we say we don’t like being there – alcohol, food, power, sex, busy-ness, “over-doing,” the internet (or, as mentioned above, movies, TV, etc.). Some of us escape into our unresolved feelings – rage, shame, depression and so on.

Temptation often comes through our emotions. Especially shame, fear, hurt and anger. . Even though they’ve been with us all of our lives, we have tried to ignore them through repression, rationalization and, of course, denial. A member of a religious community told me once that, “our feelings were removed in formation.” Hmm! Maybe that is true for many of us who were told “there’s nothing to be afraid of” or don’t cry or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

Others have commented that whole cultures are shame based. Certainly, people say that about Catholics – and some other religions, too.

Maybe Lent should be leading us into life, rather than leading us away from life. Maybe Lent is more important than giving up candy or engaging in more rituals. Rituals are very important in the life of the church. I do not mean to minimize their tremendous importance and value. (The classic Lenten rituals: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.)

But rituals can also be used as an escape. Sometimes we are good at using rituals to feel good. We scratch the surface with the “feel good” emotions and avoid getting to our core issues.

Someone told me recently that they only have one expectation of life – and that is that they are never uncomfortable. “Our discomfort can a symptom of something deeper – or it can just be part of life. I’m not aware of any family that does not have problems. Not a job either. Our Buddhist friends tell us that life is painful – we do well to accept it and learn to deal with it. Fasting and rituals are a good start to Lent. But Lent isn’t about taste buds or smells and bells.

Fasting and rituals are good if they lead to a real transformation and to genuine changes in our life. Perhaps Lent should be more of a time of listening and searching and less for busy-ness. Maybe it would be a healthy practice during Lent to sometimes participate in community activities and give others a chance to lead.

I really don’t want to minimize the importance of fasting and other rituals – or other disciplines. They are very important. They teach us about poverty. They show us how cluttered our lives are with too many things and activities. They can show us how we need to move from power and control and comfort to being spiritually empty and needy so God can fill us with Love. As we experience giving up things and behaviors, we learn how power exists in our lives, which can sometimes lead us to false gods. Re-read “The Little Prince” this Lent to hear about how “busy” and “important” grown-ups can think they are while they are really missing life.

Perhaps this Lent – more than years before – should be about looking at the effect the world has had on us. We have been surrounded by violence and are still embroiled in scandal. We are still involved in a foreign war again. There is hunger and violence in every city. It’s hard to turn on TV without hearing political anger and corporate sin.

Even the Church needs healing, as do those of us who call Her our “Home.” We all have unfinished business from childhood all the way adulthood. We are often pushed in many directions at once. There is a terrible stress on all of us. We can easily become isolated from others. Perhaps during Lent we can be more attentive to relationships rather than living in the stand-in-line-and-take-a-number world.

Church is best when we are involved in some kind of activity that takes us out of our daily routines (rituals) and into helping others – not just sending a check.

As I have listened to people around the country, I have found many to be in pretty good shape. I have also found a lot of woundedness and anger and hurt and confusion. Sometimes the “good shape” and the “wounding” are in the same place.

Redemption, in modern terms is perhaps about wholeness and health of body, mind and spirit. Perhaps it would be good to focus on those during Lent. How are we caring for the body God gave us? Most of us need some improvement in that area – not just during Lent, but as part of a longer journey. Sometime we invite and entertain irrational thoughts and expectations of ourselves and of others. So, what’s going on in our heads? Those attitudes and thinking habits can probably stand some work. Spiritually, perhaps it would help to just be still and listen for a while – focusing on God’s Love. God lives in our hearts. Perhaps it would be good to move from our heads (words and rituals) to our hearts during this time of community retreat.

We are a family – in our church – and in our homes. Yet there are many who are isolated. How about if we talk WITH each other and LISTEN TO Each other? No phones, no computers, no TV. Do you know how recently the world became so loud? Some of us Older folks can remember a much quieter world – maybe a RETREAT into that would really be something??

Perhaps there is no better time than Lent to look at the gift of Our Lives and to see where we have come from and where we are going. How have we received the gift and grace of life? What are we doing, or not doing, to cherish this gift? How are we sharing the gift? What would strengthen us?

In the end, maybe the most important thing we can do for Lent is to just let God love us! For many of us, finding ways to let God love us would make this the best Lent we have ever experienced. “Be still and know….”

~ By Bob Martin

Minor Decisions

A married couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. At the party everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.

The husband responded, "When we were first married, we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions, and my wife would make all the minor decisions."

At which point the wife took up the tale, "And in 60 years of marriage we have never needed to make a major decision."

Walking in a way that honors Christ may sound like a major decision - to walk in a way worthy of your calling. But in a sense, this major decision is made with a long series - a lifetime, even - of minor decisions. You just make ‘em one at the time, like one little step at a time, and pretty soon, you're walking in a brand new way, right into heaven.

Good Trade

1st Sunday of Lent

For many of us the 40 days of Lent take on all the characteristics of preparation for an Olympic marathon. We approach Lent with motivation and gusto, ready to embrace the strict discipline required to finish the race to Easter Sunday. We strengthen our will power and determination by giving things up and fasting. Some of us build our spiritual stamina by attending daily mass. Others set spiritual goals - I will pray more and read scripture everyday; I will go to confession and perform works of charity every week. Lent is a time for us to sharpen our spiritual skills and develop some good Christian habits and routines. But Lent is so much more than simply developing good Christian routines.

The 40 days of Lent provide us with time and space for spiritual growth and development. Lent is not a race. It is a retreat in the midst of life. Lent invites us to slow down, to evaluate our relationship with God, to identify and then turn away from the things that separate us from God (selfishness, greed, materialism, desire for power) and to rebuild our relationship with God.

During Lent, Jesus invites us to go into the dessert with him to confront our human weakness. Through our prayer, fasting and acts of charity, God our Father offers us the grace to make Jesus the center of our lives, to overcome the power of temptation and sin, and to assure our proper place in the kingdom of heaven.

God our Father,

in the desert your Son Jesus struggled forty days

with the demands of his mission,

and he overcame all temptations.

In these forty days of Lent

convert us; turn our hearts

to the peace of your forgiveness,

the light of your love,

your concern for people.

Let us find the life and the joy

which Jesus brings us,

and dispose us to share it with others.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. 

Amen.

Eggs

A lady asks: "How much do you sell your eggs for?"

The old vendor replies "50¢ an egg, madam.” The lady says, “I'll take 6 eggs for $2.50 or I'm leaving.”

The old salesman replies “Buy them at the price you want, Madam. This is a good start for me because I haven't sold a single egg today and I need this to live.”

She bought her eggs at a bargain price and left with the feeling that she had won.

She got into her fancy car and went to a fancy restaurant with her friend. She and her friend ordered what they wanted. They ate a little and left a lot of what they had asked for.

They paid the bill, which was $150. The ladies gave $200 and told the fancy restaurant owner to keep the change as a tip...

This story might seem quite normal to the owner of the fancy restaurant, but very unfair to the egg seller...

The question it raises:

Why do we always need to show that we have power when we buy from the needy?

And why are we generous to those who don't even need our generosity?

I once read this somewhere ,that a father used to buy goods from poor people at high prices, even though he didn't need the things. Sometimes he paid more for them.

I was amazed. One day his son asked him "Why are you doing this Dad?" His father replied: "It's charity wrapped in dignity, son.

The story is told of an elderly couple who lived together in a nursing home. Though they had been married for 60 years, their relationship was filled with constant arguments, disagreements, and shouting contests. The fights didn't stop even in the nursing home. In fact, the couple argued and squabbled from the time they got up in the morning until they fell in bed at night.

It became so bad that the nursing home threatened to throw them out if they didn't change their ways. Even then, the couple couldn't agree on what to do.

Finally, the wife said to her husband: "I'll tell you what, Joe, let's pray that one of us dies. And after the funeral is over, I'll go live with my sister.

Anxiety

Do not let anxiety sabotage

your search for God.

You know well that when

you search for something too anxiously

you can come upon it a hundred times

without ever seeing it.

Anxiety masquerades as true spiritual energy,

even as it wearies out mind,

drains our enthusiasm,

and deadens our soul.

It pretends to stir up our soul,

but all it does is dampen our spirit.

It pushes us until we stumble over our own feet.

We need to be on the watch for this impostor

that would have us believing

that our spiritual life

depends completely on our efforts,

so that the more panicked we are,

the more anxiously we search,

the more likely we are to find God.

Let God do his part.

Be patient.

Not even our best efforts

can earn the blessings of God.

Our role is to be ready

to receive God’s gifts

with an open heart -

carefully, humbly, and serenely.

Set Your Heart Free -

The Practical Spirituality

of Francis de Sales

by John Kirvan

Before you ...

 

I Came to Church Today

Hello God, I came to church today

To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
To my anxiety and trial.

You see, I can't quite make it
Through a day just on my own
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep,
My family safe and sound.
Come and fill their lives with confidence
For whatever fate they're bound.

Give me faith, dear God, to face
Each hour throughout the day,
And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.

I thank You God, for being here
And listening to my call,
For giving me such good advice
When I stumble and fall!

Your true presence, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,
because I know your are mine.

So thank you, God, for listening
To my troubles and my sorrow.
Thank you God for loving me
and dying for all my tomorrows.

Judged on Love

 

Love is a Great Thing

Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good. By itself it makes that is heavy light; and it bears evenly all that is uneven.

It carries a burden which is no burden; it will not be kept back by anything low and mean; it desires to be free from all worldly affections, and not to be entangled by any outward prosperity, or by any adversity subdued.

Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility. It is therefore able to undertake all things, and it completes many things, and warrants them to take effect, where he who does not love would faint and lie down.

Though weary, it is not tired; though pressed it is not straitened; though alarmed, it is not confounded; but as a living flame it forces itself upwards and securely passes through all.

Love is active and sincere, courageous, patient, faithful, and prudent.
~ Thomas à Kempis

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As I reflected on our readings for today, the final line of the second reading, “For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2: 10), resonated with me. It reminded me of a quotation that the psychiatrist Carl Justav Jung had inscribed over the front door of his house and on his tomb, VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT. Bidden or not bidden God is present. The author of Sirach in our first reading says something similar, “Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes of God are on those who fear him; he understands man's every deed” (Sir 15:18-19).

The themes of today’s readings are freedom and the law. The author of Sirach reminds us that, “God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice (Sir 15: 14). HOWEVER, no matter how much freedom of choice we have, we are still subject to rules, regulations, laws, statutes and our social and cultural norms. 

The kingdom of heaven has laws too. They are the Ten Commandments and the Laws of Moses found in the first five books of the Old Testament. In today's gospel, Matthew 5: 17 - 37, Jesus tells his disciples and he tells us that he came to fulfill the law and the words of the prophets. He proposes a new order, a new way of looking at the world built on what came before. His fulfillment of the law set a new standard. In the kingdom of heaven, it is not good enough for us to observe the letter of the law like the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus asks us to embrace the Spirit of the law, to look beyond the actual words and internalize the values that underpin the law. 

Jesus defined the Spirit of the law in Matthew 22: 36 – 40 when he told an ambitious young Pharisee “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” 

If we embrace the idea that no matter what we are doing or where we are, God is present and that God understands our “every deed,” and that “the Spirit scrutinizes everything,” then we should be motivated to behave accordingly. Imagine what our world would look like if everything we did was defined by our love of God and love of neighbor. Then, truly, we will live in the Kingdom of God.

Lord God, loving father, 

In your Son Jesus, you have shown us 

how we should seek and fulfill your loving will. 

Help us respond to your love from the depths of our hearts 

and to be faithful to you in all that we do. 

Reconcile us to one another. 

Make us respectful of one another 

and attentive to the needs of people, 

even when they remain indifferent and thankless. 

Show us the way to bring your love and mercy to our world. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord. 

Amen

Blessed

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves:
     they will have no end of fun.

Blessed are those who can tell a mountain from a molehill:
     they will be saved a lot of bother.

Blessed are those who know how to relax without looking for excuses:
     they are on the way to becoming wise.

Blessed are those who know when to be quiet and listen:
     they will learn a lot of new things.

Blessed are those who think before acting and pray before thinking:
     they will avoid many blunders.

Happy are you when you can take small things seriously and face serious things calmly:

     you will go far in life.

Happy are you if you can appreciate a smile and forget a frown:
     you will walk on the sunny side of the street.

Happy are you if you can be kind in understanding the attitudes of others, even when the signs are unfavorable:
     you may be taken for a fool, but this is the price of charity.

Happy are you if you know how to hold your tongue and smile, even when the people interrupt and contradict you or tread on your toes:
     the gospel has begun to seep into your heart.

Above all...

Blessed are you when you recognize the Lord in all whom you meet:
     the light of truth shines in your life and you have found true wisdom.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In addition to being the 5th Sunday of our liturgical year, today is Super Bowl Sunday. Practically everyone I know is planning some activity around watching the Super Bowl tonight. There will be parties and barbeques (if it isn’t too cold). I imagine some people even went out and bought new TVs for the event – I know the TV manufacturers encouraged it. What I like best about the Super Bowl are the commercials. I don’t know much about American football, but I know a good ad when I see one. I suppose at eight million dollars for 30 seconds, advertisers should produce something worth watching. So, for several magic hours we will be inundated with car, tire, clothing, beer and other commercials. They will imply that we will be cool, smart, bold, safe or lovable with their particular products. None of these ads will encourage us to be better people, good examples for others, merciful, just, gracious or steadfast. What a pity.

Unlike the hype of the Super Bowl, our scripture readings today encourage us to reach beyond the glitz and glamour of our secular world, and be salt of the earth and light of the world. How ordinary! Salt is so common and yet so essential. Imagine a Super Bowl party without salted food. Today as in the time of Jesus salt is used for flavoring, preserving and healing. We need salt. And we need to be like salt – flavoring our world with kindness, compassion and faith.

We take light for granted. However, without light nothing would grow and our world would perish. Try to imagine living in a world of darkness. Jesus told his disciples and he tells us that the most valuable light is inner light – the light that shines from us. And he tells us that our “light must shine before others, that they may see [our] good deeds and glorify [our] heavenly Father."

In today’s first reading, Isaiah 58: 7 – 10, the prophet tells us how to become salt and light for our world. When we share our food with hungry people, provide shelter for those who are oppressed and homeless; provide clothing to those who have none and take care of the people in our communities, then, Isaiah tells us, our “light shall break forth like the dawn,” and our “vindication shall go before [us], and the glory of the LORD shall be [our] rear guard.” So, in addition to praying for the Atlanta Falcons, perhaps we should ask Jesus to kindle His light in us so that our light will rise in the darkness.

O God of justice,

you have called your Church

to be the salt of the earth

and the light for the world.

Let the light of your own justice

shine in our lives,

that all may see our good works

and give you the praise and the glory.

We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Let Go and Let God

 

Late Have I Loved You

 “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”

~ St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

Take Care of Yourself

 

Prayer for Hearing

“What’s wrong, Paddy?” asked the priest.

“I need you to pray for my hearing,” said Paddy.

The priest put his hands on Paddy's ears and prayed. When he was done, he asked, “So how’s your hearing?”

“I don’t know,” said Paddy. “It isn’t until next Tuesday.”​

When Things Go Wrong

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.”
~Morris West

Today I watched Finding Nemo, one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. When Dory and Marlin are searching for his lost son Nemo and it seems like they’re doomed to fail, Marlin says, “I promised I’d never let anything happen to him.”

Dory responds, “Hmm. That’s a funny thing to promise. You can’t never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him. Not much fun for little Harpo.”

As someone who has often worried about people I love, I find this incredibly insightful. The truth is we never can know for certain when a storm is coming. We can’t fully protect ourselves or the people we love from hardship.

What we can do is choose not to cause ourselves pain by shutting down, fearing everything that might go wrong. When we hide from the worst that could possibly happen, we also close ourselves off from the best.

Today if you’re feeling fearful about things that might go wrong tomorrow, come back to the present and recognize things that are going right today.

There’s a lot of sunshine to enjoy in life, but we can only appreciate it if we’re willing to be firmly rooted in the here and now.