Try Gratitude
Read: Psalm 30
"The mass of men [women] lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau, 1817
1862
Does the above quote send a chill down your spine, or does it actually ring true for you?
How does a person accept the daily gifts that flow from God and still live a life of "quiet
desperation?" Could it be possible that a lack of gratitude is supporting the despera-
tion?
I would like to suggest that gratitude can brighten any day and any life. In fact, I think
that desperation and gratitude are incompatible opposites. Gratitude opens one's heart
to the splendor of each little pleasure in life: a warm shower, a cool summer breeze, a
comfortable bed, good water to drink, sunrises, sunsets, a stranger's smile, a baby's fin-
gers and toes, good music, the five senses...I could go on indefinitely, and so could you.
None of those pleasures costs much money and yet they add immeasurably to our en-
joyment if we are conscious of them.
How, then, do we cultivate gratitude in our lives? Start with a quick "gratitude prayer" at
least once a day, thanking God for five simple pleasures that come to mind. After that,
you will find it difficult to feel desperate for at least a short while. And the more we de-
velop our consciousness of pleasures we're grateful for, the more we will leave despera-
tion behind, until one day we come to the realization that we feel grateful and happy a
lot more than we feel desperate and miserable.
If you have been on the wrong road, God allows U turns! Try gratitude.
Inspiration comes from the apostle Paul: "...for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to
be content." Philippians 4:11.
Joy Baker (from March 25, 2003)
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