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Gratefulness
Today I am grateful to be alive, to feel, see and know the grace and power of something we call Spirit. That alone is joy and gift enough!
I plan to give my attention today to my wife, who beginning last night with family, provided a wonderful meal for us all, a warm up if you will for today, which is my 71st birthday. I am grateful to be alive! Later today, my wife and I will bring the day to a close having made reservations at a favorite restaurant, the first time in nearly fifteen months!
I woke up this morning. And my friends here did too!
Having hope, love, and a reverence for life, in all its wild and unpredictable twists and turns, gives me perspective, as does knowing that my time on the planet is finite, which tends to keep one sober.
The busiest moments are among the gifts of this day.
My love for the world depends on where I am in it. For example, I love being on or beside the ocean which brings about a sense of wonder every time that I have the privilege of being there. I love most any expanse of land, be it rolling hills and meadows, a hundred-acre hayfield, or shifting dunes of sand. While walking in the woods I adore old stone walls speckled with Lichen, and marvel at the spider’s web in fall, yielding back and forth in the breeze yet strong enough to catch a meal th...
My love for the world depends on where I am in it. For example, I love being on or beside the ocean which brings about a sense of wonder every time that I have the privilege of being there. I love most any expanse of land, be it rolling hills and meadows, a hundred-acre hayfield, or shifting dunes of sand. While walking in the woods I adore old stone walls speckled with Lichen, and marvel at the spider’s web in fall, yielding back and forth in the breeze yet strong enough to catch a meal three times its size. I enjoy a raging snowstorm or springtime downpour, both of which I’m happy to experience from inside my earthly home, sipping tea or even something stronger.
Our seven grandchildren help me to stay curious…and to be frequently out of breath!
I choose to be Kevin!
In capital letters, LIVING WITH CHRONIC BACK PAIN!
To be certain, gratitude plays a central role in my day-to-day life. But as I look back on how I dealt successfully with a challenging interaction with one person in particular it was about feeling grateful that I possessed, at the right moment, the skills needed to bring about the best possible outcome.
There’s no doubt that gratitude helps one to see the good in the world. But for me, today’s question prompts another question in my mind. Is it possible that effusive expressions of gratitude are closely aligned with the bounty and good fortune in one’s life? If so, it causes me pause. Shame on me if all my rose-colored glasses do is brighten my world, without benefiting my sisters and brothers in need. Gratitude, if left unemployed, can be a selfish emotion.
It’s the simple fact that, like most people, I have had to recognize, then accept, and then work my way through an assortment of life’s challenges as they come, that has helped me to grow and face new challenges with a sense of certainty and determination.
Over fifty years ago I decided to leave the religion of my birth and family and go church shopping. Forty-five years ago, I walked into a Friend’s meetinghouse, and never left. I immediately knew that I had found my spiritual home.
Hopefully, my gratitude for all that I have, gratitude for my very life, gratitude for living in a place and time that affords me the luxury of not worrying about my safety, where my next meal will come from, or where I will sleep tonight, and gratitude for being able to feel gratitude itself, compels me to work to help other people in ways that I can so that they too, might experience a lightening of their heaviest, daily burdens.
My goodness, Christine, thank you! After reading your note here, I took the image of that special yellow flower into a prayer, walked outside and sat on a little wall by our flower garden, and completed my prayer while watching a daffodil sway in the breeze and morning sunshine. I pray too, Christine, that time continues to bring healing for you, as you remember, always.
Morning, Christine, I of course do not know what your native language is, but from where I am, your English is just fine and your interpretation of yesterday’s question was spot on also. One of the beauties of this site is all the many different ways there are to “read” and interpret any particular Daily Question.
Hey Howie, my Quaker Meeting puts on what we are told is the largest used book sale in New England every year (40-50K total). Even though we state that we no longer can accept donations of sets of encyclopedias, dozens arrive each year including the Britannica. Let me know if you’re feeling nostalgic, and I ship you down a case, or two, or three! Ha!
Seriously though, even though we can find what we need to know in spades and in half the time by going online, we have truly lost s...
Seriously though, even though we can find what we need to know in spades and in half the time by going online, we have truly lost something by passing up the old hardcopy of knowledge. As we sort through donations throughout the year, a few of us admit to enjoying grabbing a three pound volume of a section of the alphabet, and start reading through the pages. Talk about “knowledge in hand!”
Good morning, Christine, Please know that you have our prayers today, too. As for me, I will pretend that one of the flowers that you will leave for your husband today is from me, too.
And, I hope that you are feeling okay now, Katrina. Time to start planning your next getaway!
Thank you, Pollyanna, for adding some grounding here. And, it certainly has been my experience that we must “use it,” or we will surely “lose it,” a kind of paying it forward if you will. I used to get so much from my clients (before retirement), and continue to receive so very much from those I have provided pastoral care for down through the years, that continues, today. It has always made me feel like I’m sitting on so much that needs to be given away as the S...
Thank you, Pollyanna, for adding some grounding here. And, it certainly has been my experience that we must “use it,” or we will surely “lose it,” a kind of paying it forward if you will. I used to get so much from my clients (before retirement), and continue to receive so very much from those I have provided pastoral care for down through the years, that continues, today. It has always made me feel like I’m sitting on so much that needs to be given away as the Spirit may lead.
Oh for sure! I recall assisting people in various ways over the years who had so very little, who had virtually nothing to the naked eye, but expressed deep and heartfelt joy for what they did have, seen and unseen. These people, whose faces I still recall, have taught me so much.
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