I am grateful for my faith and family. I am grateful for Brother David Steindl-Rast and A Network for Grateful Living. I’ve benefitted from this service for the past 11 years. Having a daily gratitude practice significantly enriches my life, relationships and work. I am grateful for my computer, internet access, curiosity, research expertise and abundant resources to stay actively and meaningfully engaged during this quarantine. I am also grateful for the free Covia Well Connected Program and the many services it provides for older adults in America.

As a 77 year old, I am working on humility and letting go. I am practicing new ways of being and doing in this stage of my life. I am aware of many younger people’s talent and desire to lead. I’ve held leadership roles in many settings for decades. I frequently remind myself that it is now younger people’s turn to lead and that they have much to give that is truly needed in our world. It is time for me to clear the space so they can lead. This requires me to suspend my judgment; to recognize and to value different gifts and ways of proceeding. I am grateful for this growth opportunity.

I think of two different kinds of caring for others.

One is feeling affectionately toward others –fellowship, friendship, love. Being in close relationship with another motivates me to be more aware, respectful, appreciative, sensitive, patient, supportive, etc. I grow as a person when I am challenged to be a more caring person. My personal relationships are improved and strengthened.

The other kind of caring is being a caregiver. In this kind of relationship, I need to be informed about and supportive of others’ needs. Being a support person for my family, friends, community members or people in need gives me purpose and meaning. I know that I am making a difference in the world. This enriches my own life. I also am more aware of my blessings and grateful for them.

I feel hopeful for the present and the future when I reflect on my own personal history and that of people I know. While we’ve all experienced darkness as well as light, the light triumphed most of the time. People living now are challenged by many issues. I won’t name them here. It is tempting and easy in a time of challenge to feel hopeless and powerless to make needed changes. Still a historical review tells me that most of the time darkness is followed by light; good overcomes evil and we continue to invent new solutions to old problems. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. In addition and most importantly, I believe in a loving and merciful God. Jesus told us “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:20.

One song I take inspiration and challenge from is “Go Light Your World” from the CD “Holy Darkness” (2006). The song is written by Chris Rice and sung by Father Jim Northrop. It concludes with this verse:

Carry your candle
Run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, depressed and worn.

Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle
Go light your world.
Take your candle
Go light your world.

I am surprised to see this question pop up today as I was reflecting yesterday on writing a gratitude letter to the president of Seattle University, my alma mater and one of my former employers. He will retire after 24 years of service in this role June 2021. Fr. Steven Sundborg SJ has been the longest serving president SU ever had and the longest serving college president in Washington State. He accomplished, with the active support of many others, tremendous things for the university, Seattle METRO, Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. Though he knew and worked personally with many influential and affluent people, he showed interest and regard to all regardless of their station in life. I and my family have been personally blessed by his presence in our lives. I will write that letter to him. Thanks for the prompt.

I am rich because I am alive, I am a faith-based and family-based person. I have a clear vocation at 77 years of age, the willingness and ability to live my vocation daily. I am rich because I am privileged to live with my husband of 41 years in our own simple rural home in the Central Cascade Mountain foothills. I appreciate hearing and seeing domesticated animals and wildlife every day. I appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds us. I also appreciate living close enough to Seattle to attend religious-spiritual, educational, performing arts and social events with others. I am blessed with many relationships I treasure – with sons, daughter-in-law, siblings and their families, new and old friends and colleagues, fellow parishioners and members of interfaith groups to which I belong. I am rich also in being a regular participant in a couple virtual communities and face-to-face communities I enjoy. I appreciate the abundant resources I enjoy through the Public Broadcasting System and Acorn TV, the internet, the phone, libraries and my personal collection of books, a magazine subscription and music. While we are not wealthy and I have financial insecurities, I appreciate that we have what we need and extra – for that I am truly grateful!

I am grateful for my rural, warm home of 33 years in the Cascade Mountain foothills and for sharing it with my husband – it is filled with many happy memories of raising our children here and extended family events we hosted.

I am grateful for the Ignatian Spirituality Community I lead in our parish and for my collection of related books including the current one “The Call to Discernment” by Dean Brackley, SJ. I will continue slowly reading and savoring it. I am grateful for the opportunity to use its wisdom and spiritual practices in my daily life.

I am grateful for the Well Connected Program and the daily Gratitude phone meetings they host. I am learning from fellow participants , who have much more severe challenges than I do, to be more aware and grateful for my many blessings.

Teri, this is a great idea. I started my daily gratitude practice in 2011 after learning about Brother David Steindl-Rast and this website. I write briefly in my journal, listen to music that reminds me to be grateful for my blessings, reflect on special blessings and pray in thanksgiving. I am also part of a daily phone group that focuses on gratitude. I am inspired and challenged by what people share. I also do some reading on gratitude. This practice is healing for me. I am a better person because of it.