Grateful Hearts

Recently, I was reading about waking up to gratitude - gratitude for being alive, for being healthy, for having a comfortable bed, for having air conditioning, for having a shower with hot and cold water. I thought of how many people in the world have none of these things. Most of us just take them for granted, but we need to consciously give thanks.

As I begin each day, I find so many more things to be grateful for: freshly brewed coffee, orange juice, fresh bread, and a choice of fruit. Then, I look outside, and I rejoice in the trees and multi-colored flowers, the squirrels and birds, the bees pollinating the flowers, the sun brightening my world. Awareness fills my soul with gratitude.

As I open my eyes wider, I rejoice in family and friends, for TV, computers, dishwashers, and phones and electricity to make them work. I pick up a book I'm reading and am glad for writers and poets who lift my spirits. I see children playing in the yard and smile at their clever antics and energy. 

I say a prayer of gratitude for all the things that I have, and know that I am blessed beyond words. As I take in all the beauty and wealth around me, I remember that there are many people who do not have all these things - in fact, who lack the basic necessities, who live in war-torn areas, who are homeless, unemployed, hungry, and in pain. 

I am too old to respond to these needs in tangible ways, too isolated. Prayer and lifting the spirits of those around me is all I have to offer. I admire those who actively serve the poor and needy in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and through refugee resettlement. As the psalmist says, "Let us rejoice and be glad." 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Limping to God I come to you, God, weather-beaten and limping, asking for forgiveness for all the times I have failed to be faithful and attentive to all those around me, especially the elderly who have run the race, the poor, the lonely and abandoned, who need my care and concern.     Is there any hope for these old bones? What will it take to change my limp into a surge of energy and a ready step? Teach me to become more caring, more responsive, more aware. Give me eyes to see and the will to act on my good intentions.   Water my dried up spirit and shriveled body, expand my shrunken heart. Give me eyes to see what you are leading me to do even as my bones creak and my legs become unsteady. Make me remember that I am here to serve, to listen, to be ready to be your hands and feet today.   Barbara Mayer, OSB    
Read more
Image
    “Wonderfully Made” When I took a college English course, our first assignment was to write an essay about whether we would rather lose our sight or lose our legs. It was a thought-provoking choice. If we became blind, we would miss seeing our loved ones and all the beauty of our world. If we could not walk, we would be hindered from traveling and moving around without help. I chose to keep my eyesight since I love to read and write and enjoy the variety and beauty that surrounds us.   Of course, I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice in real life, but it was a thought-provoking assignment. It made me think about how much we take our bodies for granted. I began to think about all the organs, veins, arteries, canals, nerves, and bones we have in our bodies and how they all work together to keep us alive and healthy. It is not until we lose one of them that we realize how magnificent we are, created in the “image and likeness of God.” God loves each and every one of us as if
Read more
Image
  Overcoming Discouragement Sometimes discouragement and failure take over our lives, and we cannot seem to crawl out of our hole. Even if in reality they are not a true picture, we can be blinded by the seeming darkness.  It often takes another person to uncover what is hidden from us and to see through the cloudy picture.  I am reminded of a story about Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He tells of how he felt his dream of starting a group for people with drinking problems was not going anywhere. Then unexpectedly Father Dowling, a disheveled priest, came to his door in the middle of a snowstorm. Bill’s caretaker told him that a “damn bum” was at the door. Bill was tired but agreed to see him and in doing so had his “second conversion experience.” Bil and Father Dowling talked way into the night, and Bill told of his “high hopes and plans, and spoke about his anger, despair and mounting frustrations.”  It turned out that the elderly priest had had similar feel
Read more