Do you take it for granted that you can eat your vegetables?
At the supermarket near where I usually go, there is a section where vegetables directly from the farm are displayed, and the names and pictures of the farmers are posted on the corner.
The farmers’ names and pictures of their faces are pasted on the corner, and when I read their messages about how they grow their vegetables, I get a very warm feeling.
I often eat salads at my home, and I take it for granted that we can eat vegetables, but on the other side of that naturalness is the fact that there are people who grow and prepare the vegetables with care.
When we forget to be grateful, our happiness fades away
I think we often live our lives taking for granted that someone else is doing it for us. And I think we often forget to appreciate it, without realizing it.
“Farmers are doing this for business, too. We pay for the food, so we should be grateful to them.”
Some of you may be thinking that way. But is it really so?
I believe that when people forget to be grateful, they start to drift away from happiness. Unhappiness begins when we begin to take it for granted that it is given to us. It is, as it were, human hubris.
Everything man needs is in God’s hands
The fact that vegetables are edible is not something we take for granted. Not only the efforts of the farmers who produce them, but also the nourishment of the Earth, water, sunshine, and many other things that help us grow vegetables. There are many things that we can’t do by ourselves, but they are all given to us free of charge.
Who gives us these things for free? Who makes it possible for human beings to maintain their bodies and live?
Ultimately, it is God, the Parent. God has provided and given man everything he needs. Just as a parent provides their children with what they need, God has everything in place without us even realizing it.
It is only when we realize the fact of how much we have been provided for that we will feel grateful.
Giving to others makes people happy
I said earlier that when we forget to give thanks, misfortune begins. What happens when you only take love away from the other person and don’t have the desire to give it back?
What comes out there is frustration, complaining, and a heart that doesn’t know enough.
When that happens, you don’t feel like giving back in any way you can. One cannot be happy just by being given. They become happy by realizing how much they have already been given, and out of gratitude for that, they become happy when they give to others.