Good Morning ADD Irregulars, Friends & Refugees, Phamily & Misfits and all the rest of you Conversants, Lurkers, Searchers and Lost on Locals! Happy Saturday Digital Neighbors!

A few thoughts & quotes on gratitude which is the dominate attitude of mind and heart that I try to cultivate and sustain. I can't say that I live everyday grounded in gratitude, but many of them are awash with an abundance of gratitude and reasons to be thankful. Even on the days that test me, I know my greater reality is unmerited blessings and gifts in living that have come my way. Since I believe in a Giver, it prompts me easily enough to respond in either personal prayer, communal worship or service to neighbor or stranger.

If you don't believe in a Giver, I would think that it would give you even more reason to wonder at the amazing nature of this unpredictable reality. The gift of life has dropped in your lap and the fact that you can read this on a phone or PC means that your life could be far worse or impoverished. Gratitude does not mean that we ignore the realities of life like hardship, suffering and death, but rather that we return to the greater cause for gratitude after the episode of sorrow and stretching has passed. Sometimes we have to choose gratitude in the middle of the trial to keep us grounded in the truths that are larger than suffering.

If I didn't believe in a Giver of Life and a Lover of Souls, I would seek the wisdom of Buddha. No offense to those who follow his wisdom, it is profound and I barely scratched the surface of it in college. I know next to nothing beyond the 4 Noble Truths and the Noble 8 Fold Path. To admit that that life is suffering is a profound insight. But since I believe in a Giver and that the Giver has communicated with us, suffering is to be seen as more of a challenge. Life is an invitation and a challenge. It is up the the individual to discern what that invitation is all about and to recognize the challenges that appear in their personal story of life. Happy Saturday Digital Neighbors! Some quotes and a prayer to round out this post.

Live a life full of humility, gratitude, intellectual curiosity, and never stop learning. - Gza

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. - Tescumseh

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust

Lord,
make the old tolerant,
the young sympathetic,
the great humble,
the busy patient.

Make rich people understanding,
strong people gentle,
those who are weak prayerful;
make the religious lovable,
happy folk thoughtful,
the clever kindly,
the bad good,
the good pleasant
and, dear Lord, make me what I ought to be.

Short Prayers for the Long Day (p. 32).