I’m just in one of my Reflection moods, as we are half way through the year. July 1^st 2009. Life is precious and we should always have a heart of Gratitude.

We have our Lives - a lot of people started this week with us but they have passed away. MJ was alive this time last week and could never have known that the world would be mourning him in a week’s time. He is not the only one. So many soldiers go to war and one by one they become casualties. Loving parents preparing for the funeral of a precious child.

We can eat – We open the fridge, prepare food, eat, have seconds. Some people have the food but can’t eat. They have to be fed through tubes and some can’t even afford to buy the food. Greedy me - sometimes, I eat even when I'm not hungry but that's because the minute I open the fridge, everything in the fridge winks at me!

We have loving Families - Our families are so important to us, yet there are some children/people who are orphans or their parents abandoned them at birth. Some teens constantly move from one foster home to another and never know what if feels like to be loved.

Children – Our little Angels – Some people pay thousands of dollars/pounds for treatment just to have a baby. They could have millions of dollars in the bank but to them, their happiness will not be complete until they have a child.

We have Jobs – We wake up daily to go to work. In this recession, many breadwinners of the family have lost their jobs and can’t afford to support their family as they would like to. If you take away a man’s job, you’ve taken away his pride. There were times i'd wake up for work in Winter and say "here we go again - when will my lottery numbers come out?" But, I've stopped that now. I should be grateful for a job.

Safe Journeys – We should be grateful for safe journeys. Many have left home or travelled and never reached their destination. Some by car, train or aeroplane.

We have houses/flats – there are still a lot of people sleeping rough on the street and homes are being repossessed weekly.

A peaceful environment – there are some countries where bombs are still being thrown about in the air and it’s not easy to move around.

Achievements in life – everyone in life has problems but also every one in life has achieved something. So we should be grateful for what we have achieved.

Health – what can I say? There’s a lot happening all over the world. A nine year died from Swine flu in the UK about a week ago.

Freedom of speech – In a lot of countries you can talk anyhow about your president. Gordon Brown, PM of UK gets a lot of confrontation. People attack him verbally. If this happened in some other Countries, that person has had it. They'd be locked up!

Our Faith – I’m not going into religion, but I do know that most people have a faith they believe in which keeps them strong in times of trouble. Your faith helps you overcome.

There’s so much more……. We all have different things we are grateful for.

This is not to depress you, I actually hope its done the contrary. The people going through all the problems above are just like you and me. They don’t deserve it – but this is life.

It is a precious Gift. Lets be grateful for what we have and as we do, we open up ways for more Blessings to come us.

                                   ** May your Life be Blessed **