Gratitude Part 2

In the Language of Flowers the Campanula symbolizes Gratitude....

One of the first posts I did on this Blog was on gratitude, but I feel a need to revisit this subject.  Alan Cohen has written a piece called "Thanksliving".  His focus is on past relationships.  He writes, "It is important that we hold our past in a sense of reverence, along with the people we have known."  

Recently someone from my past who caused me anguish at the time started coming to the Fitness Center I visit every weekday.  She seemed not to know who I was, and I was not inclined to make myself known to her.  She never looked directly at me, so I didn't feel the need to acknowledge her.  But then God began to bring particular writings into my morning quiet time and it became clear I needed not only to forgive this person but to gain understanding to why her actions still caused me hurt when I thought about them after all these years.  

And I did forgive her...as well as discover why it still hurt....and then was able share what I had learned with someone else who was dealing with a difficult situation.  I was eager to see this person again at the Fitness Center so I could smile at her and re-introduce myself (although, I had the feeling she already knew who I was).  Of course, she wasn't there--for days-- and when she did return I never found her looking my way so I could say "hi".  But, amazingly, it didn't matter any more.  The "work" had been done in me and I was able to have this sense of reverence of how God had used her in my life at the time and was still using her to show me things about myself I needed to see.  Cohen goes on to say, "Assume that everyone who shows up in your life is here to bless you in some way."  He suggests we make a list of significant past events and relationships and note by each the gifts we received from that person or experience.  I guarantee you it will change your perspective and help to heal any hurts that still linger.

Father, I am grateful for everything that has happened in my life because now I can see Your Hand in them, working to bring good to me and to others through me.

Link to scripture:  Romans 8:28

Take action:  Gratitude

Thanksgiving

Since it's Thanksgiving week I thought I should do a post about all the things I'm thankful for and then realized it would take forever to gather all the photos to go along with my list.  Plus, I don't know about you, but expressing thanks for all one has can stir up discontentment in others who do not have (I'm not immune!)....and I don't want to be guilty of that.  Instead, I'd rather talk about what it means to have a thankful heart.  Poetry the Calico Cat knows very well what it means to have a thankful heart.  Stories about her adventures in discovering where thankfulness comes from can be found on her website.

But first, let's start with this video:  Muppet Christmas Carol.  After watching it, please come back here.

Old Mr. Scrooge discovered that if he awoke each morning with a grateful prayer and thankful heart he'd find peace and joy.  It took his being shown his bleak future to wake him up from the nightmare he was living from being so stingy and uncaring.

Our next video, Veggie Tales, we learn that a thankful heart is a happy heart and the way to achieve this is to thank God every day for everything He has given us.

In this Peanuts video Sally gripes about having to write an essay at school because of Thanksgiving.  She definitely does NOT evoke the spirit of a thankful heart.

And last but not least Winnie the Pooh has some wisdom about what it means to have a thankful heart.

Thank you Father for impressing upon me my need for You and for enabling me to have a thankful heart.

Link to scripture:  Romans 8:15

Take action:  ♫Thankful Heart♫

Foreseen Circumstances

"A psychic, seer, or prophet can look down the road and see likely outcomes of actions and attitudes that are currently in motion." --Alan Cohen

In the above photo the power company was removing a tree that had fallen on the power line on Monday afternoon in the early hours of Hurricane Sandy. My husband "predicted" the falling of that tree two weeks ago when he noticed it leaning toward the line and called the power company about it. He is not psychic, but if you use Alan Cohen's definition above then you could say that he is, as we all are when we take the time to look at situations with some thought and reasoning.  

Cohen goes on to say, however, "But at any moment, a human being can make a new decision and alter the course of events."  If the power company had responded to my husband's call two weeks ago and sent a tree cutting crew to take it down then, the power company employees would not have had to come out in the rain and wind on what was to become a nightmare of a night for the region when over 200,000 people were to lose power.  

Cohen's point is that once something is set in motion most of us are capable of predicting the outcome if we've learned from our past experiences.  However, it does not mean the outcome is certain.  Unforeseen circumstances can alter the outcome for or against our favor.  We have much more under our direction than we give ourselves credit for, however.  Sometimes it just involves choosing a different course of action or a different way of viewing the situation.  Depending on God and seeking His Wisdom can make all the difference in the outcome.  We just need to realize that outcomes are not set in stone when we let God have hold of the reins.

Father, help me to let go of the reins so that I can pay attention to You and make the right decisions about my life.

Link to scripture:  Jeremiah 17:10

Take action:  Give Up Control

Halloween

I do not celebrate Halloween.  As a child I loved the holiday.  I have fond memories of dressing up as a ghost and going door-to-door asking for candy, then coming home and gorging on it.  Yet once I became a mother I saw things totally differently.  My boys probably feel deprived, but I just could not see myself allowing them to go beg for candy from strangers.  And besides, that much candy was not good for them, and I didn't want the hassle over when and how much they could eat at any one time.  Instead we always had pumpkins to carve.  In elementary school they had a class party for which they dressed up.  Dressing up was fun.  I had no problem with that.  And the schools would not allow anything gory--another concern I've always had with Halloween.  

In Alan Cohen's book, "A Deep Breath of Life," he explains that the holiday began as a celebration of purification.  It originated as the pagan holiday, Samhain, but once Christianity was introduced to the Celts it became known as All Hollows Eve, the night before All Saints Day (November 1st).  It was meant to be a time to call forth all the unhealed spirits so they could be blessed and released on All Saints Day.  

Cohen asks, "Are there any monsters lurking in the closet of your consciousness?  Are you carrying any hidden fear, resentments, or grotesque memories that stalk you in the night?  Are you annoyed by any emotional goblins that undermine your relationships?  If so, open the door and let them fly away.  Call forth the energy of love and healing, and ask God to free you of anything that stands between you and your good."

It's too bad that All Hallows Eve has reverted to being a pagan celebration, in this case, begging for candy and threatening "tricks" on the the person who does not comply.  Yes, I know it's all in good fun and hardly anyone plays tricks on people who do not hand out candy.  But wouldn't it be better to observe what the day is really all about?  

Father, Alan Cohen says, "Shine the light of truth on your basement, and you will have a whole new room to play in."  Please help me not to be afraid to open that basement door so that Your Light of Truth can shine on all the lies that may be lurking in my heart and mind.

Link to scripture:  John 8:12

Take action:  Remembering the true meaning of Halloween

Potential

♫You Raise Me Up♫

I've been thinking a lot about potential lately.  Richard Cohen writes, "The question is not, 'How much potential do you have?'  It is, 'How much potential will you live?'" He uses the example that a woman is born with all the eggs she'll ever have.  But whether those eggs will become children depends on several factors.  The bird's eggs above will only hatch into live birds if they are fertilized and then incubated for the proper time.  The potential is there, but the bird's actions and other factors will determine if the potential becomes reality.

Too often we don't live up to our potential because we fear success as much as we fear failure.  With success comes responsibility and we don't want to be a one-shot wonder.  How often do you hear stories about that first book that was easy to write, but subsequent books now had deadlines or higher expectations for them.  The excuses can go on forever and often do.  

It comes down to what Cohen says about education which comes from the Latin "educare" and means "to draw forth from within": "Real education spotlights a child's uniqueness and stimulates her to discover and act on her natural talents. What would you be doing differently if you knew that the seeds of greatness were already with you?  What you are is God's gift to you.  What you make of yourself is your gift to God."  

So, relax about whether or not you "can" but rather concentrate on whether you "will".  If you have a desire of the heart, then the seed has been planted.  Your job is to draw it out through education, practice, and realizing no matter the outcome it will be good enough because it grew out of you--you with your particular flare, experience, and knowledge.  It won't be like anyone else's creation and shouldn't be.  Don't judge it--just let it come forth.

Father, thank you for this reminder that You planted my potential to share Your Love in creative ways and are here to help me bring it to fruition.

Link to scripture:  Psalm 37:4

Take action: 7 Essentials for Living Your Fullest Potential

Reframing Thoughts

♫Stairway to Heaven♫

Last weekend we visited Garrett County in western Maryland to enjoy the changing leaves.  One of the sites we visited was Mountain Lake Park where we found this delightful sculpture of children playing....

The child hanging from the bars actually swings back and forth....

We were enjoying the playfulness of the sculpture until we read the plaque....

When we lose someone who was precious to us we will either grieve that loss until we find peace or we will resist the loss and become bitter.  There is an ebb and flow to life that must be respected even when the length of it is shorter than we expected--whether it be our own or someone dear to us.  By changing our "point of view" about it we can give thanks for the days we DID have.  Just as we saw the sculpture as playful at first, changed our minds about it when we saw that it was a memorial, and then changed it yet again when we read the inscription reminding us to embrace what we have instead of dwelling on what we don't have, we need to constantly reframe the happenings in our lives to see them from a spiritual point of view.  God can bring good out of the worst situations if we will just allow His Will to be made perfect in us.

Father, thank you for all that you are doing in my life.  May I not lose sight of Your goodness that is available to me in all things.

Link to scripture:  Romans 8:28

Take action: Reframing Thoughts

Intentions

♫Two Spirits Soar♫

We recently returned from a week's vacation on Martha's Vineyard where we went to the beach....

The carriage house we rented had a darling private garden just outside the french doors of the living room/kitchen area....

I sat at this little table each morning, when the weather permitted, and wrote in my journal.  The first morning there this is what I wrote....

6:16 a.m.  I was thinking as I got out of bed this morning that my whole routine will be different these next 7 days.  And then I thought about how it would feel if one knew she only had 7 days left to live.  I only have 7 days here.  How would I live my life?  I would live more intentionally....

We went on with our day....going to the beach, explored one of the several little towns on the Island, etc.  The next morning I wrote....

6:52. a.m.  I see my intention to live in the moment is going to take awhile to fulfill.

You see, I had planned to write about our day whenever I had a free moment and I totally forgot about doing it.  

How often do we start out with the best intentions only to have them fall by the wayside?  I got better about writing in my journal throughout the day as the week went on, although one night when I couldn't fall asleep right away, I realized I'd forgotten again so I got up and wrote down what we did that day then.  

After a couple days I looked through the bookshelf at the house for something to read since we were spending the evening in.  I found Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gift From the Sea".  This was serendipitous because I had a copy at home but was saving it because I intended to read it the next time I went to the beach!  In her chapter entitled "The Beach" she wrote:  The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy or too impatient....what the sea teaches is....Patience and faith.  One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea."

7:08 a.m.  This (what Anne wrote) is how it was last evening as I walked along the beach.  The waves brought new stones and shells then would take some back while leaving the rest.  Then it would do it all again--and again....

As Anne learned lessons from different shells she found on the beach during her week on an island, I, too, was learning lessons as I went along.  Intentions are good because they start us down the pathway, but it's in living life that we begin to put our intentions to work.  It's through paying attention--being conscious of what we feel and think and what is going on outside around us--that we begin to carry out the plan our intentions set in motion.  

Walking along the beach, noticing the ebb and flow of the tide bringing in the stones and shells, connecting all that to what I was reading and the lessons Anne learned, made impressions on me that back home would have gone unnoticed. 

Sometimes we have to vacate our every day lives in order to see and feel things that we take for granted.  There are lessons all around us all the time.  This morning we had to be on the road at 6:30 a.m. for an appointment in another city at 8:00.  It was still dark when we left and as we drove down our little mountain we were rewarded with the beautiful colors of the sun-lit sky as the sun rose over the mountains in the distance.  I told Ken we should "take a vacation" right here at home every once in awhile--get up to watch the sun rise as we did last week in Martha's Vineyard. Who knows what we'll see if we do!

Father, thank you for the break in our routine.  You are the God of the universe and have so much to share with us if we'd just pay attention.  Thank you for opening my eyes and my heart to it.

Link to Scripture:  Psalm 145

Take action:  "Staycation" Ideas