The Power of Prayer & Gratitude
With a new year just beginning, I was all set to write a blog post on making changes in 2023. I pondered why change is important, how we can go about making it happen, and actionable steps to ensure our success. Many of us go into the new year with these thoughts of fresh starts and new beginnings.
But then, on the evening of Monday, January 2nd, my focus quickly changed. I was all set to watch the big football game between my beloved Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. However, at 8:55pm EST, all hell seemed to break loose.
I’ve been a football fan for 50 years and am a season ticket holder for the Bills. I love the game! But I had never seen anything like what unfolded during this particular game. I was there when Kevin Everette went down with a neck injury during a 2007 game. Thanks to the fast acting medical team and first responders, Everette made a full recovery. However, the Bills vs. Bengals game was completely different.
Seeing the players crying, sobbing on the field, made me realize this was not like anything else we had witnessed. Damar Hamlin’s life was at stake. As we waited for an update with baited breath, people all over the country were in shock over how something like this could happen.
The trauma we all experienced as a whole is a wakeup call. It’s a reminder of how fast things can change and how helpless we all are in the face of the unexpected.
So where has the Buffalo Bills community, our city, our country and the world gone with this? We have turned to the power of prayer. You are hearing it and seeing it everywhere you go, people coming together over this football player who was a substitute for an all pro, Micah Hyde, who was injured himself. Damar Hamlin was not a name many yet knew; he was not a superstar, but has brought us together all the same.
Many people don’t realize that prayer and gratitude go hand in hand. The more we pray, the more grateful we become. “Prayer is a two-way street. When we pray, we are thanking God for His gifts, but it also opens our hearts to receive God’s gifts. Gratitude is a choice, and it starts when you recognize that you received a gift. God is constantly sending us gifts, but many times our hearts are closed to receive them. Prayer transforms us to be more God-centered and other-centered and less self-centered.” 1
As a country that has been so divided in recent years, here we are standing united in prayer and love - the common thread of humanity at its finest. Maybe God chose Monday night to bring us all together, to realize what’s important in life, and to recognize that we all need each other. Otherwise, is any of it even worth it?
Tomorrow is not promised to you, to me, to anyone. Be kind, be grateful, help each other. It doesn’t cost anything to hold your fellow brothers and sisters up, to show compassion and to share your love.
Remember that God is still in control and that miracles happen every moment. You just have to be present to see them. What we witnessed at this game, that Hamlin is still here and recovering, is nothing short of a miracle. Keep praying. Keep having faith in God and one another, and remember we are all one family.
