Gratitude

A grateful heart is a truly seeing heart and every prayer for appreciation is always heard and answered.

Gratitude is a measure of our nobility. Today, it is the need of the hour.

The abundance that flows from gratitude is immense. The love there is in gratitude is infinite. The surrender we experience in gratitude is un-fathomable.

Most of us continue living our lives taking so much for granted.
We use our days using people.

We actually hold on to our relationships oftentimes with this goal in mind.

We expect so much from others and in return we hardly flap a wing of appreciation when it is our turn to respond with gratitude.

Gratitude can change the entire flow of events. When we are grateful, we are blessing another. When we forget gratitude, we delete humanism.We are savage.

It is gratitude which binds us to our connection with our Source of good.

It holds in it the quality of mercy and grace and it drops as the gentle rain from heaven into the hearts we reach.

It is twice blessed, it blesses the giver and the receiver and it suits the crowned monarch better than his crown. (With deep gratitude to Shakespeare).

A grateful heart is always merciful and gracious. It also holds surrender and joy.

Watch the street children, born of abject poverty, dance in sheer gratitude for whatever little they have. The secret is, that which they have is their ALL. Far from little as we see it. We who have so much, forget our little and in the forgetting of our little we even forget our much!

When we take away from ourselves the joy of gratitude, more will be taken away. The Bible says: “To the one who gives, more is given: to the one who takes away, more will be taken away.” Let us understand this wisdom forever.

To watch and learn is the best way to learn, my mother said. Watch and learn… these kids on the pavement make a big joyous month from one bright new pair of trousers someone gave them, or because they now have a new pot to cook in, or that they can sit down by the side of the road and enjoy the cool evening breeze after a hot day of selling magazines or fruits. Grateful hearts! They trust the Divine scheme of things way more than our millionaires do. They hold grateful hearts. They are healthier than most. They hold appreciation for what is.

Look at how God sees us.

He acknowledges us all the time.

In each movement of nature, He is acknowledging our true selves. Each bird that flies across our balcony, each flower that blooms in the morning freshness, each sunbeam that comes through the kitchen window is a clear sign of God’s radiant, grateful heart. He loves us and He continually blesses us with His appreciation. He is giving us a pat on our backs for being receptive of His bounty.

Far from judging or blaming, He ceaselessly acknowledges us. Appreciation holds blessings. If we wish, we can open our hearts and be willing to see in His eyes the pride in all of His creation. His gratitude to all that IS. Once we see this and connect it to our oneness with Him, we are forever steeped in gratitude like a tea bag, lending a rich flavour and texture of appreciation to all that IS.

Some of us may feel particularly grateful on our birthdays or similar special calendar days. We spread grateful abundance for the greater good in those moments. As we share ourselves with appreciation, we begin to feel that we have found our proper place in the larger network of humanity.

Our gratitude allows us to prove to ourselves that we completely understand the laws of inter-connectivity that bind us to all living beings. When we gratefully share our resources with others, our well meaning compassionate gestures of empathy spontaneously serve to make our world a better place.

Gratitude flows outwards and inspires others to give of themselves in a similar fashion. Every moment of appreciation for what we have and who we are, spreads the energy of gratitude over our oftentimes callous fellow human beings.The abundant gratitude we exhibit today helps us see that we are infinitely capable of making a difference.

Devoid of gratitude, life is a bleak, dry, unfeeling landscape. All is brittle and all is sore. Life is a chore.

To open our hearts to acknowledging is one of the most noble attributes of all. There is immense healing in acknowledgment. When we are unable to say, “I am so grateful for all that you have done for me,” we are closing the tap tight on ourselves. We are robbing ourselves of a good night’s sleep, of a good day’s joy and healthy work and above all, the peace that passes all understanding.

People who thrive with gratitude help our world to thrive with peace. People who bear the lightness of appreciation help our planet bear the burdens lightly.

It comes full circle when we rise each morning and first say, “Thank you God, I am so so so so grateful for what you have given.” This voicing washes away all pain. It does. It replaces the energy of pain instantly with the energy of lightness, of courage to go on and fight the good fight in the name of His appreciation for who we are.

We are His children, we have come from the Source and we return to the same Source. Let us make this journey better than what we can ever imagine. Let our gift to Him be a better me, a grateful me.