GRATITUDE
ÒLook closely and you will find that people are happy
because they are grateful.
The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted.Ó
ÒEverything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth
is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness
is a measure of our aliveness.Ó
ÒThe root of joy is gratefulnessÉit is not joy that makes us grateful;
it is gratitude that makes us joyful.Ó
ÒWe are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.Ó
ÒPeople who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves
to a rushing river.
They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it.
Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with
purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.Ó
ÒOne single gift acknowledged in gratefulness has the power
to dissolve the ties of our alienation.Ó
ÒIn daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful,
but gratefulness that makes us happy.Ó
ÒAny place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the
Divine Presence.Ó
Brother David Steindl-Rast
The Ibo in Nigeria have a proverb that says, ÒIt is the heart that gives; the fingers just let
go.Ó Giving is something only the heart can do. And this is true not only of gift-giving,
but of all forms of giving. There are three preeminent forms: giving up, thanksgiving and
forgiving. The heart knows that all belongs to all. And so, when we live from the heart,
we are free to give up without fearful clinging. The heart is at home in belonging. And so,
when we live from the heart, we celebrate the bond of mutual give-and-take through
thanksgiving in all we do. The heart fully affirms that all belong to all. And so, when we
live from the heart, we forgive from the heart, from that center where offender and
offended are one, where healing has its roots. Forgiving is the perfection of giving.
Brother David Steindl-Rast
A Thanksgiving prayer
Dear Creator
Thank you for Your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have You to lean upon.
Thank you for Your presence during the bright and sunny days,
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.
And thank you for Your presence during the Holy Days,
For then we are able to celebrate You and our families and our friends.
For those who have no voice, we ask You to speak.
For those who feel unworthy, we ask You to pour Your love out in
waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain, we ask You to bathe them in the river of Your healing.
For those who are lonely, we ask You to keep them company.
For those who are depressed, we ask You to shower upon them the light of hope.
Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance,
we ask You to give to all the world that which we need mostÉÉÉ PEACE.
Maya Angelou
Thanksgiving Prayer by SJM as Sister Jyoti in 1985
Thank You Lord for the rains on high
For the Earth at our feet, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for each grain of sand
For mighty cliffs of rock, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for the sunÕs bright light,
For the warmth of fire, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for Ocean Mother,
For rivers, lakes, and streams, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for green blades of grass,
For forests and flowers, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for our Brother Wind,
For life-giving air to breathe, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for all the creatures,
For the winged ones, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for the honey bees,
For goatsÕ and cowsÕ white mils, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for the giving trees,
For oranges, apples, and plums, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for Garden Mother,
For corn, beans, pumpkins, greens, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for our human life,
For our bodies, hearts, and souls, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for family and friends
For chances to share and laugh, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for the painful times,
For the tears that make us pure, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for Yogaville
For our home in which we grow, we thank You.
Thank you Lord for Sri Gurudev
For our Beloved Father, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for the yogic teachings
Be good, do good, serve all, love all.
Thank You for LOTUS
Bright Light of Peace on Earth, we thank You.
Thank You Lord for all your gifts
With grateful hearts, we thank YOU.