A Few More Thoughts on Gratitude

Gratitude isn't just a feeling.  When we are truly grateful - we actually do something.  We seek to bless the lives of others. We long to share all we have.  What are we pesently doing with our money, possessions, talents, knowledge and time?  Do we hoard our gifts or do we share them?  We actually own nothing; we are only stewards of all God has given us.  In the end, only what we give away will ultimately be ours. 

Gratitde moves us to make loving human connections.  Gratitude invites us to feel at peace about out past, gives us the capacity to experirence joy today and allows us to create a hopeful vision for tomorrow. 

Life isn't easy.  Yet once we accept that life is difficult, a series of problems to face and work through, it ceases to be so hard.  When we accept life as it is, we are free to embrace it.  Just being alive for one more day is a grand thing.

True gratitude is an inner awareness and appreciation for all our present assests - health, friends, family, meaningful work, food and shelter.  If we don't appreciate what we have, more will never be enough.  The simpler we make our lives, the more abundant they become.

The joy of life is the journey.  Today is all we have.  This is it.  It doesn't get better than this.  So we can stop waiting.  We can eat more ice-cream, go barefoot, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less.  Life is to be lived and loved as we go along.  Like a roller coaster ride, it's the hills and valleys that make it a thrill.  The secret of life is to be grateful for the whole breathtaking ride.