LIVING AND GROWING: A time to count your blessings
Published 1:30 am Saturday, July 25, 2026
Summer is finally here! Rain or shine, my heart fills with joy! Summer also reminds me to count all the blessings from above.
This gift of life is the biggest blessing. I woke up this morning, I can breathe, see, hear, walk, talk, smell. I can move my arms, hands, legs, and feet. I am grateful for my family and friends; Lyndon and I are grandparents now, we take care of Gia five days a week; we have a home and live in this community that comes together and responds to those in need; many people are kind and still care. God has not taken away my free will; I have the freedom to choose, I can choose to pray and go to mass, the churches are open; I can choose to smile, to love, to forgive, be kind, be patient, be grateful, be helpful, be happy… and the list goes on and on.
Birds chirping, flowers in bloom, butterflies in the garden, snow-capped mountains, blue skies, ducks in the pond, children playing and parents watching them, people walking their dogs, kids and parents on their bicycles, eagles on top of light poles and trees, bears and deer crossing the street, people kayaking, swimming, fishing, hiking. What a wonderful place we live in!
The small forget-me-nots, wild daisies, roses, lilies, lilacs, even the flowers of the dandelion weeds — oh how beautiful they are when we slow down and take a closer look.
Mount Juneau, Mount Roberts, Thunder Mountain, the Mendenhall Glacier, the green trees highlighted by the rising sun whose leaves are rustling in the wind, the Aurora Borealis, reminding us – locals and visitors — how truly blessed we are. The clear water of the Twin Lakes reflecting the nearby houses and trees, what a beauty to behold!
The amazing clouds of different shapes and sizes, as we look out the airplane window at this beautiful sight, I whisper “Where O God is the entrance to Heaven?”
As I get older, the rain — and yes, it rains a lot in Juneau — is also a blessing from above. It takes leaving Juneau once a year for a month in a hot country to fully appreciate that the weather here is the best.
Inhaling the fresh clean air at the Rotary Park, my heart warms with gratefulness. At times, I open our car window and put my arm out when Lyndon’s driving, feeling the sudden rush of air on my arm and hand, filling my heart with joy. Do you know anyone who can create and supply air to this entire world 24 hours a day seven days a week? I am not talking about air in an oxygen tank but the air we breathe every single day.
Taking a sip of water, I feel grateful for this gift that hydrates my body and keeps my internal organs healthy.
The abundance of salmon, crab, halibut, shrimps, clams, seaweed, wild mushrooms, berries, and other food available in the water, in the gardens, and in the forest – what a blessing for us all!
In the Scriptures, the book of Genesis 1:1-27 tells us that God created the heavens and the earth, the light which He called “day” and the darkness He called “night”, the sky and the water, the dry land, seas. God created the vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds; God made the sun, the moon, the stars; God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind; living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind. God created mankind in His own image, male and female He created them so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
O how great is the love of God — the Creator and Giver of Life, the Alpha and the Omega, the Source of light and pure love Who has provided us with everything we need. Here in Juneau, nature shouts that God is alive, God exists, God provides, God is with us, and God loves us.
As a parent, I can imagine how sad God must be when His children, whom He loves very much, no longer make time for Him, when they deny Him, when they no longer believe that He exists, when apostasy grips their hearts. Yet God, who is unfathomable divine mercy, continues to love and provide for us, as He patiently waits for us to notice and acknowledge Him, to return to Him and seek His forgiveness, while there is time.
In closing, let us pray:
O Jesus, we know that You are merciful and that You gave your heart for us, that was crowned with thorns by our sins; we know that even today You are still pleading with us so that we will not be lost. Jesus, remember us when we are in sin.
By means of Your Sacred Heart grant us, that all men love one another; cause hatred to disappear from among men. Show us Your love for we all love You and want You to protect us with your shepherd’s heart and free us from all sin. Jesus, enter into each heart. Knock on the door of our hearts. Be patient and unwearied with us. We are still closed since we still have not yet understood Your love for us. Knock persistently and grant, O Good Jesus, that we open our hearts to You, at least when we will have remembered the passion You suffered for us. Amen.
Gina Del Rosario is a Roman Catholic who was born and raised in the Philippines, and is a parishioner at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Juneau. “Living and Growing” is a weekly column submitted by local clergy and spiritual leaders. It appears every Saturday on the Juneau Empire’s Faith page.
