Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me.

Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude. Such a perspective puts God in view in all of life, not just in the moments we set aside for worship or spiritual disciplines. Not just in the moments when life seems easy.

Our lives are unique stones in the mosaic of human existence -- priceless and irreplaceable.

When we learn to move through suffering, rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end.

Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.

If you feel loved, you can do a thousand things. If you feel rejected, everything becomes a problem.

We just have to recognize life for what it is: a gift to be grateful for, not a property to cling to, hoard, or defend.