The next time you are tempted to complain about something, think instead of something to mark down as a windfall to be grateful for.

Are you telling Me you can't think of something to thank Me for? What if your life depended upon it, would you not be able to quickly think of something worth appreciating? Your life, for instance?

Or, what if you would instantly be paid a thousand dollars for remembering one thing that you are glad for, how fast would ideas flock to you? You might not be able to speak as fast as your thoughts trip over themselves in a mad dash.

You might want to remind yourself that you are thankful for birds that sing and fly in the sky, sometimes in echelons. Birds welcome the dawn of a new day. Every morning they sing. Why not you?

Just think of it, you have had the privilege of birds to watch and delight in. You are amazed at the different songs that birds sing, the sizes birds come in, the colors and designs that birds wear, the slight joy that they evoke from you when you deign to lift your eyes to look at the simple birds of earth, air, and love who take off in joy and then alight in joy. What is not joyful to a simple bird? What happened to you? Did you abandon joy and take dross instead? When did bitterness supplant joy, and I repeat: What for? What on Earth for?

Start over now.

Think of the nests the mothers build. Think of eggs. Think of how the baby birds peck through their shells. What an entrance!

Tell Me, is there anything in Creation I didn't think of and provide for?

Think of creation and all the manifested profusion.

Not even a thousand great inventions of man can equal the magnificence of a single bird singing at dawn.

What about grass that grows and flowers that bloom? Are they not miracles to spark your weary heart?

What about one deer fleet of foot?

What about one young child's laugh?

What about your laugh? Where did you leave it? Listen to Me. Value even glimpses of joy. Your happiness is to know no bounds.

Happiness is yours. Avail yourself of it.

When did you trade in joy for joy lost? Did the accumulation of sadness win out over joy? Did you allow misery to wipe out joy? To what folly would you attribute this exchange? What suckered you into this fool's errand? When did you throw joy out the window and trade it in for longing, as if longing held more value than a bird of joy in the hand, as if a bird was irrelevant.

When did downright misery come to taste good to you? Why would you heap spoonfuls of it on your plate like gravy? What prompted you to be so sullen and allow incessant dross to besiege your life? What got into you?

Wear joy proudly like a badge. Do not sell your joy down the river. What happened to your common sense? When did you give up on joy and accept less, as if less were your rightful due?

You are My child. I did not create you to major in anxiety. Matriculate in joy. Joy is fitting. Anxiety is not.

Why would you make a poor bargain? When did you start collecting woe, as if woe were noble?

Granted, there is that which seems like anti-joy to you, yet who told you to accept it as your own?

Are you unaware that you are the metronome of the Universe, that you are the drum beat of what so many lives beat to? Do you give up, accepting a gloomy beat and take a certain kind of morose delight in it, as if this is all you merit?

What a cockamamie idea you got into your head, as if pain is the extent of your payback and the best you can do. Nope, it is not. Rinse your eyes with cool water, and look again, if you please.