looking out the window . . .

I invite the consideration of the question, “How is it possible to give praise and gratitude to God even in our pain and loss?” A Dr. Emmons [University of California at Berkeley] reflects that gratitude is not only possible in such times but “vital to helping us get through them.” 
 
Gratitude, he writes, enables us to see “the big picture,” and place our present pain and loss in the context of the whole of our living to let our bad times be connected to our good times. Recalling our good times (“counting our blessings”) can move us, with God, to deal the challenges of a bad time when there is pain or loss.