Melbourne Is On Top Of The World…Again! by Ps Jacob Cunningham

Wow, the city of Melbourne is on top of the world...again!

Melbourne has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking of the most liveable cities in the world for the seventh year in a row. This annual assessment comprises; stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure across 140 of the world’s leading cities. If you’re reading this blog, the likelihood is that you are therefore also living in this beautiful city.

Now of course, just because you live in an amazing city, it doesn’t guarantee that you will live a life void of difficulty, challenges or pain. But maybe this is a reminder that, you do indeed live in the ‘lucky country.’ This prompts you right now to take a moment to appreciate and be grateful for what you DO have in this life.

It can be very easy to take life’s ‘first-world basics’ for granted. Things like - running water, hot running water (!), electricity, supermarkets stocked full of food, cars and public transportation, education opportunities, a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in at night. I think that you get the gist...

Yes, life can be hard at times, but we really have a lot to be grateful for living life in this amazing city called Melbourne.

The apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church says,

Phil 4:11-13 (MSG) “I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”

This is a great attitude to adopt for our own lives - being content no matter what life throws our way.

Could I encourage you today, to stop reading this blog, and take a minute and list three things that you’re grateful for in your life today? Speak them out aloud and appreciate the life you get to live.