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Hello ,
Not a whole lot today - just a few borrowed thoughts on gratefulness. I hope these words bring genuine relief to your soul. They do mine.
- Sheldon Swartz
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Experiencing Relief Through Gratefulness
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"Be thankful." Colossians 3:15c
I appreciated the following so much I decided just to pass it on this Thanksgiving season. It's written by Richard Rohr, one of my favorite writers, and it was this morning's daily email that came from the Center for Action and Contemplation.
GRATITUDE
Question
of the Day:
Where
do I need to recognize grace?
When
Job's life is about to be taken away from him, he can say one of
two things. He can curse God, as he is tempted to do, and
say, "God, why not fifty-one years of life?" Or he can surrender to
love and say, "God, why even fifty years?" Why did I deserve
life at all? When we take on that attitude, we've made a
decision for grace.
"Naked
I came into the world, and naked I will leave" (Job 1:21), Job
says. What do we have, brothers and sisters, that has not
been given to us? All is grace. All is given. Who gave
me this hand? Who wiggles these fingers? Who created
this eye which I cannot explain or understand? I cannot even
make this hair grow. It is all gift.
From
beginning to end, everything is grace, everything is given.
There is nothing that we have a right to or that we deserve.
Adapted from Radical
Grace: Daily Meditations, pp. 207-208 (Source: Days of
Renewal)
I hope I take time in the next couple of days to pause and reflect, not on what I lack, but on what I have that I have been given. So far today I have looked one other man in the eye, gripped his hand, and said from my heart "Thank you" because of the gift he gave a group of us as he vulnerably shared from his life journey and shared how he was given hope and courage to move ahead in his life. I wonder if there will be others today that I will do that to. Who knows?
"God, Eternal Giver, thank you."
I work with individuals, couples, and families to identify the ways of life and death in their lives and help uncover the motivation to choose that which leads to life, whether it be through counseling or spiritual direction. - Sheldon Swartz, MA/LMFT |
