I am grateful for each mistake for in them are lessons learned.

To me they are markers of wisdom I have earned.

I am thankful for the wrinkles and hairs of grey,

grateful for strangers and friends met along the way.

I was blessed by your kindness, friendship and grace.

Each memory is a unique treasure that cannot be replaced.

I am grateful for all the good and all the bad;

Even for those turns I would have preferred not to have had.

Each disappointment made me tougher with greater resolve.

They sharpened my focus to grow, learn and evolve.

The heartaches and problems were never in vain.

For without them there would be no solution to gain.

There are two great lessons to date I have learned.

First compassion is given and never earned.

Second love gives its greatest yield

when it is the love of Christ in flesh again revealed.