The Present

With everything happening in the world right now, gratitude can feel like a foreign language.
When we’re surrounded by conflict, fear, and constant division, waking up and saying,
“Thank you, Lord, for another day,” isn’t always easy.

The news is loud. Social media is even louder. Political arguments tear friends and families apart.
It can take just one headline to steal our peace and make the world feel darker than it really is.

But when I find myself getting pulled too deeply into the worldly chaos, I remember Jesus’ words:
“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Mark 12:17

To me, that means this:
Yes, what happens in the world matters.
Yes, justice matters.
Yes, truth matters.
But none of it should eclipse the greatest reality of all—
that every day of life is a gift from God and should be an opportunity to love God better.

There’s a line from Kung Fu Panda that resonates deep inside my soul:
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift... that’s why they call it the present.”

It sounds simple. It comes from a kids’ movie, but it’s intense when you think about it.
I personally didn’t always understand that kind of wisdom. Even when I first heard it, I knew it was deep, but I didn’t comprehend the depth until I was refined.

As for when I was younger, I would not have found any sense in the phrase at all.

Life was hard.
Broken places, painful people, and moments so dark that I didn’t believe life was a gift at all.
There were days I didn’t want to wake up again.
Days when I thought the world, especially my daughter, would be better without me.
Days when I wasn’t saved by hope, but because David, a close friend, stepped in at the right moment. I was angry with him, but now I am indebted.

I didn’t know then that God was giving me time.
Time to heal.
Time to grow.
Time to learn who He is… and who I could become.

If I had left this world when I planned to,
I would have missed every lesson, every blessing, every chapter of spiritual growth that was waiting for me.

What a gift it is to live long enough to become who God intended.
What a gift to be able to love better today than we did yesterday.
What a gift to have breath in our lungs and time to change.

I am grateful for God’s patience with me, for His mercy, and for the people—here or gone—who stood in the gap when I could not stand for myself.

So if life feels heavy right now…
If the world looks cruel, loud, or hopeless…
Just remember:

Every sunrise is a second chance.
Every tomorrow is still unwritten.
Every breath is a gift of grace.

And no one is disqualified from that gift.

Not you.
Not me.
Not anyone willing to reach for hope.

If this resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs a reminder that their story still has time to be rewritten.