And when we realize that it’s all gift we may be lucky enough to realize gratitude in our hearts – for heat too hot to go out in; for a cloudy sky; for the mosquito that just took a nip of our tasty blood – and, hopefully, did not gift us with malaria or something even worse. We’re talkin’ gratitude, thankfulness and it’s not just about that Turkey dinner every November.
There is literally nothing in the world that is not gift, including the world itself. Brother David Steindl-Rast makes that extraordinary claim in his book gratefulness, the heart of prayer. We Americans always like to think that we made it happen. Believe ourselves to be in charge of our lives and to owe nothing to anyone (excepting our credit card debt, of course.)
It’s hard to not take the weather for granted; or not take the trees in the forest for granted or your best friend. They’re always there, right? Of course the reason we are not grateful for them is that we no longer take them as gifts. We unwrapped that package years ago and now it belongs to us and we hardly even see them. Unless. they suddenly disappear. It is our awareness, the greatest gift that we have been given, that we no longer appreciate and no longer nurture, that we have most taken for granted but that we should feel the most gratitude for. After all, it is our awareness, consciousness that allows all of the other things that we are capable of to grow and blossom.
As with anything else, however, if our awareness stagnates so does our appreciation of ourselves and others and of the world around us. And if we only nurture negativity in our awareness the world seems nothing to be grateful for. Sometimes we’re not even grateful for the gift of ourselves because our awareness of ourselves is negative. We were taught that negativity, no doubt, but then WE have to nurture it – and that’s a choice.
PEACE and LOVEYA,
Ron
Camel Through the Eye 