By Pam Mamouney OAM from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Will the world ever be the same after this COVID-19 pandemic?
It will be different, but I hope we will have learnt from this experience and will make changes that improve our lives, our community and our nation.
Surely, there are lessons to be learned and we will come out of this pandemic stronger and better than before.
Little things become more important as we regain our freedom after this stressful lockdown.
My friends and I were so excited when we could get together again to play cards, they jumped for joy. Not so long ago we took that privilege for granted.
Gratitude and appreciation for our blessings will help us maintain this spirit of resilience.
One church leader in the Christian faith, Russel M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently posted a challenge to the world to help us all.
He was speaking about the healing power of gratitude.
Gratitude provides us with a greater perspective on the very purpose and joy of life.
Counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems.
He challenged the citizens of the world to keep a Gratitude journal and to post on social media for seven days what we are grateful for, if you do this you will feel happier.
I did this some 40 years ago after I suddenly and unexpectedly became a single mother, responsible for five children from four to nineteen years of age.
Every day, I wrote in my journal one thing I was grateful for.
The flowers in my garden, the birds singing to me, a phone call, a walk on the beach, a good book to read, or a lovely sunset.
This really helped me to keep my spirits up and to cope with the challenges of life.
Today my family have taken up this Gratitude challenge and post on Facebook each day.
With amusement I read a recent post by my daughter.
She was grateful for her compost bins. What? They had four of them: “His and Hers”.
The family laughed at this. She explained they need separate bins because her husband was always putting the wrong items in the bin.
Such trivial, everyday items like this are a part of a normal life that helps us to just get on with things in this crazy world of ours at present.
This article is meant to represent the Christian Faith giving a Message of Hope.
Having been a member of the Interfaith Movement for over 20 years it is hard to differentiate between the goals and aspirations of different faiths.
We are intertwined and have so much in common. We are all part of the human family and have the same hopes and dreams for our families.
We just have different cultural beliefs and customs.
Prayer to God each day is such a blessing to us all.
Showing kindness and understanding to one another means so much and breaks down barriers.
Sharing food together is one of the best ways of forming friendships.
My greatest testimony is the sure knowledge that all mankind can live again, to be resurrected and to be reunited with all our loved ones again because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
That gives me hope for all of us.
