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The Spiritual Gift of Gratefulness
Just a few weeks ago, a friend handed me a cassette tape and told me she thought it would help me in my current spiritual struggle. The name of the tape was The Grateful Heart by David Steindl-Rast, a well-known monk. Thinking it was a music tape, I put it in my car to enjoy as I did errands.
My current spiritual struggle is around changing my outlook from a rather mundane, colorless expectation of daily life to a more faith-filled view of God as a giver of good gifts to God’s children, me included. I don’t know where I went off track with lowered expectations of God being at work in my life, but Mass readings recently convicted me of this.
When I finally got around to listening to The Grateful Heart, I found it wasn’t a music tape, but one I really needed to hear. The message on the tape produced one of those sacred synchronicities—a graced experience of God’s help. David encourages us to think of ourselves as "blessed to be a blessing." He goes on to challenge us to bless others, to bless all of nature, to bless our difficult circumstances, to bless our pets, to bless all that is. For some reason, this made me chuckle, and I decided to begin immediately.
Now I can’t say that the way I am choosing to bless is the way David meant it, but here is what I did. On a day when Reno was having a cold snap, I walked through my gate to see the first dandelion in the lawn. That happy, yellow circle of life pulled a blessing right out of me—I bless you, dandelion, for your reminder of spring, of warmth coming soon, of all blooming things, of God’s beauty in this world. To my surprise and delight, with each blessing given, my heart lost some of its grayness and took on a new glow of life.
When I walked in my door, I was greeted by my pet green-cheek conure named Camille. Out burst another blessing—I bless you Camille for your silly antics, the games we play together, for your companionship. Thoughts began to run through my mind, and I found myself praying for pet birds everywhere, some of whom have negligent owners. What would have been a routine greeting of my pet became a moment of gratefulness to God.
Later that day, my five-year-old grandson, Taylor, came by to stay overnight. We went out for a walk. He spied the dandelion and said, "Grandma, I’m going to pick this for you!" "How lucky I am to get such a beautiful flower," I told him. As he knelt down in the newly greening grass, I silently blessed him and all children, especially remembering the neglected and abused. I was distracted by Taylor running back to me with a whole handful of dandelions, "Grandma, these would look pretty in your hair!"
Banding them with a rubber band from the last newspaper, I pinned them to a lock of my hair, and looking in the mirror, I saw a very pretty and blessed child of God, not to mention a very blessed Grandma.
The more difficult blessing was given a friend who had forgotten to include me in our usual weekend movie outing. When I found out she was going to a movie with another person and hadn’t let me know, I felt irked. But, still listening to The Grateful Heart as I drive about town, I silently blessed her—"I bless my friend who didn’t realize how her forgetfulness would disappoint me; I bless her for all the good times we have together, for the long, forty-year friendship we have managed to sustain. I bless my friends who I disappoint without knowing it; I thank you, God, for the gift of forgiveness."
If you are experiencing a low-grade form of "the blues," consider talking with a spiritual director, someone who can listen empathetically and without judgment, someone who can help you see yourself "blessed to be a blessing." It is the objective of spiritual direction to nurture an intuitive awareness of divine presence in all who receive this ministry. If I can help you locate a spiritual director, please call me in Reno at 329-0659. Spiritual direction can make the difference between living life as routine and living life as a child of God, expecting good gifts from the One who loves us.