Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing. Each day we are encouraged to be thankful for nights that turn into mornings, friends that turn  into family, dreams that turn into reality and likes that turn into love.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Let us learn to appreciate what we have before time makes us appreciate what we had like the farmer in the following narrative.

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and contented. He was happy because he was contented. He was contented because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamond and the power that goes along with the.

The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontented. He was unhappy because he was discontented and discontented because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went to search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got to disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room.

That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling He asked, Is Hafiz (a Persian mystic and poet) back? The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one."  The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds."

There are several moral lessons in the  story. When our attitude is right we realize that we are all walking on acres and acres of diamonds. Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need to do is recognize it.

The grass on the other side always looks greener.  But while we are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the grass on our side. They would be happy to trade places with us.

When people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks. The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it is never the same one.

By Tim Pedrosa

When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.-Shauuna Niequist