a spiritual legacy for our children and theirs and their generation . And more time at home for personal counselling and mentoring by ( through WhatsApp ) the people God sends us . And still just enough energy to help out in some Christian NGOs and in church .
I certainly have further reasons to continuously ( in auto mode ) silently or audibly praise and thank God morning , noon and night , not just for the natural blessings of food , friends , flowers , birds , bees and other creatures in my ' garden ' but also ' all things bright and beautiful ' living in a choice location .
PRACTISE GRATITUDE I have ( in good , radical humour ) thanked Him for my daily osteoporotic , arthritic , rheumatoid aches , pains , body twitches , mild ' brain fog ' and imperfect neuromuscular control , blurry eyes , skin itch , night time cold baths and insomnia . My impediments are not life-threatening as they are manageable by proper diet , medication , exercise , prayer , meditation , serving God , helping others , common sense and listening critically to the body , to the doctors and to Google !
I have also time to enjoy my wonderful wife in our senior years and , by daily contact through our iPhones , our eldest married daughter in Puchong ( also our church honorary secretary and married to a cheeky fellow journalist and loving husband ).
Plus time also to enjoy our younger daughter ( married to her former godly varsity classmate , now a Ph . D ., lecturing in his home state University of Belize in Central America ) with their ever entertaining handsome son ( 6 ) and lovely daughter ( 2 ).
The more we expressed our daily gratitude to God , the more joy and blessing He adds to our lives ! Just as according to His promise of abundant life and in line with what must be a few hundred Scripture verses on the power of praise , thanksgiving and GRATITUDE to Him , worshiping and blessing Him in ALL circumstances .
To each of the categories of thanksgiving items listed above , dozens more can be added with each category spilling over into dozens more .
Just to name a few : our salvation and sanctification ( continuous transformation as we are still His ' work in progress '); His mercies despite our social political and other negative situations ; or even for the unfailing road signs guiding us home when our eyes and bodies are weakening ; the ability to sleep , eat and digest as I ’ m losing my appetite and body weight , which is down to 45 kg .
But our gratitude should not just be merely natural . Godless people and animals have that ! Nor should it be a matter of a senior citizen ' s old age ‘ after glow ' as old people can be intolerably grumpy and ungrateful !
Ours must be the radical , spiritual , supernatural gratitude that comes from a God Who loved us first before we loved Him . For in giving us Christ , God gave us His ALL .
ASIAN BEACON 48 # 1 December 2016 - January 2017 7