Reflecting on Gratitude

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Thank you Lord for contentment.
For this snowstorm even. :eek:
For my wife and daughter and mother.
For friends.
For work.
 
Today I’m grateful a sister-in-law has found an apartment and is able to move from an extremely toxic situation. I’m grateful my wife and I have been able to help with this process. I’m grateful for physical and mental health and for family.
 
Gratitude for contentment also.
Gratitude for simple work.
Gratitude for children.
Gratitude for conversion.
Gratitude for warmth and clothing and water and food.
 
Gratitude for God’s never ending love for us.
Gratitude for jobs that keep our hands busy but let our minds rest in God.
Gratitude for freezers that keep our food fresh until we need it so we don’t have to be hunters and gatherers…
Gratitude for spring when everything seems to come back to life like Jesus did at the Resurrection!
 
Today I’m grateful for the divine within, patience, and smooth, easy, breaths.
 
Today I’m grateful I’ve been cigarette free for over 16 years and alcohol free for almost 8 years. Grateful for this day.
 
Grateful for the laws of nature at work…
water seeking it’s own level
the sun warming the earth
and thankful for when it seems the laws of nature DON’T work…
The bush burning and not being consumed…
the virgin bearing a child
God coming to Earth
 
I’m thankful just to be who I am.
Thank you God for creating us.
Thank you God that we are unique, that we are not all the same.
Thank you God for everything you have allowed in my life that led to this day.
Thank you God for the opportunity to serve you today. Right now.
Thank you God for taking care of the future so I don’t have to worry about it.
 
Today I’m grateful for this day, for smiles, and for strength.
 
Grateful for work to do
Grateful for peace of mind
For time to pray
For doctors
For rain
 
Today I’m grateful for this day. This day of picking up groceries and for the groceries. This day of preparing the lawn mower for this cutting season and the ability to be able to do this work of getting the mower ready however little and for the ability to mow the lawn when needed. This day of enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, and the sounds of birds, dogs, and children while out for the daily walk. Today I’m grateful for this day and all that it brings.
 
Today I’m grateful for family and friends, fresh air, patience, strength, aches and pains, and this moment.
 
clem456 said:
Gratitude.
My lenten task is to cultivate gratitude.
Doesn’t come naturally.
Gratitude is the antidote to envy, so I hear. I cannot seem to shake envy and regret, always feeling like I should be like the other guy, always inferior in some way.

In the year of mercy I find it hard to pass along God’s mercy if I do not have gratitude for the gifts I have been given.

What is gratitude really? Does one have to feel thankful to be grateful? Does saying '“thank you” bring it about?

Can I cultivate it or is it a gift from God? Does gratitude come from joy and peace, or is it the other way around?
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Hi Clem,

I think it is wonderful, all the different things offered up here for which we can be grateful.

If I may offer my own two cents on the OP, I have found meditative prayer to be a powerful antidote to envy, regret, complaining, etc. A discipline towards gratitude is certainly productive, too, as long as we don’t get into “I should be grateful” which can lead to a downward spiral.

For starters, when we meditate, we can find a place of quiet, a being with God that is calm and peaceful. From there, we can observe our reactions to seeing the “great stuff” or “great attributes” of others and see that such reactions are a normal part of being human. “When I see someone popular, I want to be popular”. We can observe the “want” without being caught up into it. If I either simply resist it or succumb to it, then I am not transcending the want, a transcending which can occur from the position of quiet.

More observations:
“when things don’t go my way, I feel frustrated”
“when I see someone with a really cool possession, I want one too.”

If I were to make such observations without making them from a position of quiet, from a position of fulfillment that comes from being in His presence in prayer, then I am still pulled around by my emotions and drives like a “candle in the wind”, so to speak.

Observing those emotions, drives, and reactions as they are, part of the way that God created us, all there for a purpose, is seeing something beautiful, and with such seeing comes a gratitude.

God Bless you, and thank you for this thread, Clem.
 
Thanks for the kind and wise words One Sheep.
I’m grateful for gardening. For sun. For dirt. For good neighbors.
 
Thankful for communication
Reading
Understanding what another person writes
thankful for God’s making us able to communicate
He could have made us quiet – like snails…
 
Gratitude
for you O Lord. That you are good. For everyday tasks. For peace of mind. For good friends and neighbors.
 
This day I’m grateful for rain and patience. This day I’m grateful that I’m at least able to sense the narrow gate written about in Mt 7:13-14 if not able to see it. This day I’m grateful for the mindful breath.
 
I am grateful for the kindness and friendly demeanor of the people I have encountered today. They remind me of God’s presence.
 
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