Grateful to Learn

I had been in this season of my life three years when I read Ann Voskamp's book entitled, "1000 Gifts."  During the six years I have in a rather sporadic way kept what I call a "Gratitude Journal."  Her book challenged me to "give thanks for everything" and all I can say is that I am working at it.  Maybe I have come a little further on the road paved with gratitude, but it has not always been easy walking.  In many ways the word "gratitude" has been a word which has been a guiding word for my spiritual journey since I retired.

 

And, then more recently I have become acquainted some writers  of Celtic spirituality.  Their writings about this tradition has given even more life to my desire to live with gratitude.  One place which really caught my attention in Esther de Waal's book, "The Celtic Way of Prayer," read, "When life is seen as the gift of God, praise and thanksgiving are inevitable. When reverence and respect for the material world, for the earth itself, for the mundane activities of daily work, are a natural part of life, then there can never be any denigration of matter itself."  It is unfortunate that so many live with such a disconnect with the earth.  It is unfortunate that the mundane is seen as something to endure instead of a means of experiencing holy presence.

Perhaps, the biggest struggle many of us have in living lives of gratitude has to do with a need for a different perspective.  If we continue to see things as we have always seen them which often means not really seeing them at all, being grateful for what is staring us in the face becomes an impossible thing.  While I am not as far down this road of living with thanksgiving as the many are around me, I am learning.  I am learning to slow down, to embrace the pause, and to look around at what is unfolding around me.  I am grateful to be learning.