Gratitude

Even if it seems we have little to be grateful for, we have a great reserve of faith to be grateful FROM! - Eric Butterworth



Today I am grateful for my friends who support me when I am most in need of an encouraging word and with whom I can share my joys and my frustrations. I am grateful for my family who are a constant in my day though they are far away, they are my rock and my center. I am grateful for my eyes so I can see colors and faces and the sky and the clouds, I am grateful for my ears to hear the voices of those I love, the caw of a crow or the laughter of a baby.

I am grateful for my legs to walk across a room, my hands to type, to sew, to paint, to comb my hair and touch textures and silk and skin. I am grateful for my arms to hug and reach for things and extend the hand of friendship. I am grateful for my home, my warm dry bed to sleep in, my chair to sit in and a lamp that allows me to read late at night. I am grateful for the comforts and conveniences of electricity and water from a faucet, mail delivery, my car, the radio.

I am grateful for my mind, curious and flexible and always learning more. I am grateful for my heart that circulates my blood and keeps me alive to experience this next moment and works hard for me every minute. I am grateful for my lungs, my organs and bones that allow me to function in the world. I am grateful I woke up this morning. I am grateful for my health and my really exceptional unexceptional life.

I realize I am fortunate beyond many in this world today, many who experience loss and ill health and poverty and mental illness, natural disasters, oppressive regimes. Someone today will die of hunger or spend the entire day searching for a clean water source. My trouble seem so little from their perspective.

Though things may not be today how you would want them to be, there is much to be grateful for. Take a moment to remember what they are.

"The grateful person is great because he has turned on all the lights within." Butterworth