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Gratefulness
I had just spent at least half an hour waiting to tell my telephone company that my land line was out of order. Simple? Not a bit of it. I was eventually connected with a technical department where the woman who took my call spoke with an American accent and some of her queries convinced me she wasn’t in New Zealand or anywhere near it. “Where are you?’ I asked. ‘The Philippines.’ Not at all surprising; just totally amazing that the repair of a phone in Auckland ...
I had just spent at least half an hour waiting to tell my telephone company that my land line was out of order. Simple? Not a bit of it. I was eventually connected with a technical department where the woman who took my call spoke with an American accent and some of her queries convinced me she wasn’t in New Zealand or anywhere near it. “Where are you?’ I asked. ‘The Philippines.’ Not at all surprising; just totally amazing that the repair of a phone in Auckland is organised by a woman in the Philippines. We made friends then and there, we made a connection. That’s what comes of waiting, Elaine. I went to the Gratefulness website, and found your blog and read of the depths/heights waiting can take us to. My day, quite ordinary, has become inspired. Thank you.
I was very humbled and proud (of belonging to such a great community) when I read all your comments. I am glad I stuck with it in spite of my love/hate relationship with computers.
I was hoping Brother David would get the opportunity to do just this and he has done it. Gracias Brother David. God is with his church!
Margaret, your story is my surprise for the day, and fills me with a sense of wonder at the beauty and courage of a grateful soul, and I am filled with hope when I realise that so many folk are practising gratefulness day after day.
Thanks Laura. I got some very positive ways to pass on gratitude and comment on the not so good without rancour. Blessings on you and your family.
The title of your blog attracted me, “Grateful for Getting Older”, my birthday having just past and most of my birthday cards having had a very large 90 embossed on them, even though I still feel about six. And I get as much fun as I ever did from the dandelions and the daisies, the roses and the orchids. Everything you wrote is just so true. Thank you.
An amazing essay – one of the best I have read. It inspires me to get out and do something, everything I can, in this wonderful world of ours.
After yesterday’s meditation to discover beauty within, without and to affirm it with a resounding ‘yes’, today’s ‘be surprised’ is a delight, and I have enjoyed being surprised all day by the bright sunshine and the rejoicing plants after two days of rain (the cause of the plants’ rejoicing). The skillful organisers may have planned it that way but surprises don’t have to be organised, they’re ready made for the moment.
I want to discover where beauty is in me. I have the recipe: be still, open myself to reality and let go of preconceived notions, say the yes of blessing, the essence of worship. I have the method: live in the now with courage and perseverance, then the splendour will break forth without limit. What am I waiting for? I’m serious about this because this is what I was given my life for, moment by moment.
the beauty of these reflections takes my breath away. Thank you everyone.
The privilege of: being born at all – my mother died a year after my birth spending the first year of my life with my mother, who was dying of cancer – unnoticed back then until too late my father and Aunty Lily between them finding a housekeeper of great skill and kindness who restored things to ‘normal’ in the household my upbringing in the wilds of New Zealand in a timber milling village called Waituhi … Those were my starting pri...
The privilege of: being born at all – my mother died a year after my birth spending the first year of my life with my mother, who was dying of cancer – unnoticed back then until too late my father and Aunty Lily between them finding a housekeeper of great skill and kindness who restored things to ‘normal’ in the household my upbringing in the wilds of New Zealand in a timber milling village called Waituhi … Those were my starting privileges. I am now at the other end of my life, still here as Ram Das would say. Which brings up a host of other privileges, such as being educated and able to read Ram Das, meeting Brother David in New Zealand during his first visit here, deciding to Google his name when I first got a computer, and despite my first grade skill in using it, have found this web site. And there are MILLIONS of priviliges in between, each of the ordinary/extraordinary kind.
Spot on Brother David as always. I dance, I play, I sing and all the while I cry for joy at the sheer beauty of it all.
I could relate to this poem and it speaks to me as few poems do. I felt ‘ah! that’s the way it is.’
I have never been called Beth – I am the Elizabeth who gets her passwords muddled up and have been helped by the ever patient team.
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We invite you to experience six blessings in this short, meditative video from Brother David:
