Gratitude. There are many ways people remind themselves to be thankful for the blessings of life. Some people pause before meals to pray a blessing and offer thanks. There are others who use affirmations throughout the day focused on gratitude. From time to time on social media, I see various people engaging in a practice called Forty Days of Gratitude. Each day for forty days, they post something for which they are thankful.
Gratitude is an essential foundation for the spiritual dimension of life. This isn’t a new concept. One of my favorite spiritual writers, Meister Eckhart, who lived in the 13th Century, famously said, “If the only prayer you say is thank you, that will be enough.” Or as the Buddha said centuries before, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.”
An important lesson for me about gratitude came when working in Appalachia many years ago alongside people who lived in deep poverty. During the day, I’d assist with in-home repairs and other odd jobs. Evenings were spent at The Jesus Mission – a Black Pentecostal clapboard church pastored by Brother John. Throughout the service, people would testify. They’d thank God for the sunrise, for waking up that morning, for being able to come to church, for having food that day, for feeling rain, for seeing birds…. for so many things most of us don’t even notice in life. These were people who lived without electricity in their homes, without plumbing, without many things we take for granted. Yet, they were thankful and grateful to simply be alive and experience the wonder of living.
In the 15th Century, Spanish mystic Francisco de Osuna wrote about gratitude in his classic text, The Third Spiritual Alphabet. (This text was a continual inspiration of Teresa of Avila.) De Osuna wrote poetically about the nature of gratitude. Reflecting on a fruit tree, he observed that the tree is thankful for the sun, the rain, and the nutrients of the ground. It’s out of that gratitude that the fruit tree offers its fruit. Yes, the ripe fruit is its way to say, “Thank you!”
You may think that the fruit tree is simply doing what is supposed to do: growing fruit that’s juicy and delicious. De Osuna observed that doing what is natural to do, being a tree that produces delicious fruit or being the best person one can be, is itself a form of gratitude. Our growth and striving to be the more well-rounded people, to bear good fruit in life, is a way of demonstrating our thankfulness for being alive.
In the end, keeping a gratitude journal or posting on social media things for which you are thankful can be fine exercises to help us learn gratitude. But authentically living with thanksgiving is to engage in life fully by being the best people we can be. So, strive to be the person who lives out of gratitude being kind, compassionate, gentle, understanding, and caring not just to those whom we love but all people who share the planet with us. Yes, let us be the best people we can be and embody gratitude for the gift of our very lives.
Photo by gisele13 on Foter.com / CC BY