By: Javier Sanchez

During this holiday season, don’t forget to take a step back and give thinks for all of the things in your life.  Be grateful for your family, your health, good friends and a roof over your head.  For there are many who lack these basic necessities.  Make it a point to give to those in need, and don’t forget that even those among us who seem to have it all, need to be checked on too.  Count your blessings.  And when you look at the totality of life, don’t forget about the things that are missing—like unanswered prayers.  They are the hopes and dreams we desperately needed but never came.

We go about our daily lives, providing for our families, making a living, and hauling hay (well I’ve only really done that a few times, but I know plenty of folks who do it for a living).  Sometimes we struggle.  We see loved ones grow old, we see our loved ones parish.  Life is hard.  We are taught that we shouldn’t complain because this is God’s will.  For the meek shall inherit the earth.  We take the daily struggles as our lot in life.  Some people were meant to have it easy and others like us were meant to work harder just to make ends meet. 

Yet as a people and as a community we find joy and beauty in life.  Whether it’s by taking an afternoon off to fish your favorite watering hole, or making biscochitos for your grandson, we find happiness.  Giving respite to our bodies so that we can give OF ourselves defines true love.  The everyday hubbub, the noise of our dedicated routines cycle on and off.  During those moments of existential angst—when we wonder, why am I doing this?  Why am I trapped in this hamster wheel going round and round yet go nowhere?  That’s when we often find ourselves wanting change.  We pray for something to happen.  We pray for that girl or that boy, that we are so desperately and madly in love with to love us back.  We want that winning lottery ticket.  We want to get that next big job or promotion.  We want the world handed to us on a silver platter.  And then we tell God, we dare to barter with him and say, “If only you gave me that one thing, I promise I will do x, y, and z.” 

But life wasn’t made that way.  God didn’t make us that way.  He wants us to figure it out on our own.  And every now and then he gives us a hard time.  But he also gives us clues about how to think about life.  Sometimes it happens in the art we see or when we read poetry.  More often than not, he gives us his message in ways that each of us can understand.  Sometimes that message shows up in a country music song. 

This Holiday Season, as we count our blessings and take stock of our lives, take comfort in the words of Garth Brooks.  Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we want it.  Look back at all of the things you thought you once needed or wanted. 

Sometimes, you’ll find, you should thank God for those unanswered prayers.  Just because he doesn’t answer, don’t mean he don’t care.  Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.  Shake the dust off your butt, look at the grit and calluses on your hands, and take another step into the unknown.  Full with the understanding that you create your path and your future.  Give thanks.  Give to those around you and bring them along for the ride.

Javier Sanchez is a former Española mayor and is an investor in El Rito Media.