Day 4 of Gratitude

“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.”

Roy T Bennett

Be grateful for what you have

I have taken several courses on copy writing. All of which work at encouraging people to buy something, do something, take some action. Move from point A to point B with the understanding (implied) that being at Point A is not a good place to be.

It\’s not enough.

There should be more. You should do more, have more, be more. We need to be at point B, then C and then . . .

But if we take a look at Point A we might find that it\’s not a bad place to be. The grass is as green as it will be at Point B. The sky will be the same, the birds singing in the trees, the world will be speeding through the universe at the same speed it will when we are at Point A as Point Z.

Every Day there is Change

I remember when I was in High School how dissatisfied I was with what I looked like, what I weighed, almost everything about me. Now at 63 I think wow, what was I thinking? That was a beautiful person at age 17, 23, 43, 56 . . .

We live in a place and all we can think about are all the things that need to be fixed, changed, added, moved around and worked at to be made better. When do we stop?

You know the times when I most stopped and looked at the sky? Watched the birds fly, watch the leaves fall, watched people walking across the street? It was when I was in a waiting room, or hospital room or some place where I just had to sit there and watch the clock go around. I couldn\’t be out and about so I just sat and observed.

Every morning Jon and I take a 30 minute walk down the neighborhood streets and count cats. We know all the places to look. The houses that cats might have a cat sitting in a window, the boat that might have a cat sleeping under it, the tree that a cat might be having a wash paw time.

Every day we take this walk and every day is different. The clouds are different, the sun in the sky, the wind blowing or not. Sometimes we meet fellow walkers and we wave or chat for a bit and sometimes we talk to no one at all.

And guess what I am almost always thinking on this walk?

I will be glad when we get home and I can get back to work. It\’s just ingrained I guess. Still I am holding on to the thread of each day a bit more as I get older because if all goes as planned the aging process will make even this simple walk more difficult.

Being in a loving marriage holds a tinge of sadness that one of us will probably precede the other. How that will change things. It will I know but oh how blessed I am to have these days and moments now.

Looking at Eternity

When I was about 24 years old I went to a sort of Christian Revival meeting and the dynamic speaker shouted out to us, that everything we do should measure in terms of how it will affect our lives in eternity. The idea was I think that saving souls was more important than saving dollars.

I guess I took that thought and ran with it as part of my decision to enter the monastery. I was off to measure my life in terms of eternity. Doing and living all for God was the grand gesture I threw myself into. It was a good thing to do. God was there and I was blessed being there but . . .

Eternity is within each of us at every moment. There is no time or place when we are not in eternity. It\’s not something we strive for but something we embrace as being within and without right now.

God is good . . . all the time . . . and so are we.

Right now, right here and everywhere.

Scripture quote for the day

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Colossians 4:2

Please add \”your\” three gratitude moments in the comments. It\’s a great way to pick up your day and it\’s fun for the rest of us to read!

1. Took dogs to vet for a nail trim. Won\’t be hearing the clickety, clickety at two in the morning.
2. Another blue sky beautiful day. Cold morning but nice now.
3. Working on Pinterest – sort of like art time for adults. 🙂

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