Practice Gratitude (by Steve Garnaas-Holmes)
Gratitude, the yoga of the gods,
may sometimes take a little practice.
Eachday, select one thing to be grateful for:
a cup of water, a wispof green,
sun on stone, a friend’s memory,
gravity, so we do not float away….
Hold your gratitude like a seashell in your hand,
and rehearse it. Come to it new again
and feel the surprise, like water colder
than you thought, or warmer.
Each day add to the things
you allow yourself to tumble into gratitude for,
until you become grateful for everything,
for the rust onthe lock, the sun on the broken glass,
the silence after the birdsong,
for the grace hidden in ugliness,
for the Presence waiting in emptiness,
for the blessing enfolded introubles.
Become universally and equally grateful
for everything, until your gratitude becomes
meaningless, as will your desires and expectations,
until none of that is real: only the seashell
you hold in your hand with unspeakable,
unshakable gratitude.
Thank you God for the gift of your love, life and all good gifts within it.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17
A prayer from Mary Oliver:
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
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