Gratitude by Barry Hughes



As I walked my course through the neighborhood, I came upon what I immediately began to regard as the “yard of gratitude”. I love to imagine that this family just woke up one day and felt an overwhelming urge to show their appreciation for those who were helping others in these crazy days.

The signs themselves give me this feeling. It appears that someone wanted to say thank you to a particular group of workers but, once they got started, they could not stop. They just added a group, then another, then another. The result was this wonderful,  crowded mess of a sign, written by many hands, that overflowed into the need for a small add-on sign that serves to explain the family’s motivation. It would appear that once they paused to be grateful, they were overwhelmed with the good work of so many.

Challenges to living in gratitude abound. There are moments and situations in our lives that are difficult, heartbreaking, unfair and unjust. We face days when we are overwhelmed by grief and disappointment. All these feelings, all these realities, can crowd out the space in our life that once held room for gratitude. I know that I can always tell when it happens to me.

Sometimes we can feel that we are stuck in this dark place until we can free up all that gratitude space once again. We want to always be the family with the sign in the yard, our list of things for which we are grateful so long that our sign overflows into another. But that is just not the way life unfolds. Gratitude is not an “all or nothing” proposition.

A.A. Milne wrote, “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” Perhaps we should start with the small space we have for gratitude at the moment and fill it up with just one thing. The beauty of a sunrise. The unrestrained laughter of a child. The song of a bird. A love that changes everything. Perhaps this act alone could cause our space for gratitude to grow. Perhaps, little by little, day after day, we might find ourselves at one of those glorious moments where our sign overflows with that for which we are grateful. Who knows?

The psalmist writes, “ Give thanks to the Lord, for the He is good, His love endures forever.” I think this will be where my list will begin today.

Peace.

By Barry Hughes 

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