The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude.
Every moment is a gift from God and every moment we are given opportunities. It’s what we do with those opportunities that are important. When we open our hearts, we have the opportunity to help others and by doing so, we offer them opportunities. It’s a win, win, when this happens; we are living into the blessing of life.
If we are grateful we act out of a sense of enough instead of a sense of scarcity. I must say that I’ve experienced this at various times in my own life. When problems are overwhelming and the cloud of fear continues to hang over my head I become frozen and can’t even think clearly! However, if I quiet my mind, pray and start counting my MANY blessings, moment-by-moment I become so full of appreciation and gratefulness that I could burst! Even though the problem still remains, it’s just not as all consuming and debilitating as it was before. At that time, I then have a better perspective and have the ability to solve the problem by thinking logically.
This lesson in life has been one of the most important to me. It really works because by going to God in prayer, giving thanks and counting my blessings, I am living in a place of gratefulness. Thanks be to God!