Reflection
Because we have so much – food, shelter, clothing, “extras” we think of it as the norm. Yet, most of the people on earth do not enjoy these basic necessities or comforts. To us, our abundance feels like a given not a gift. Since we rarely lack these things, it’s hard to remember to acknowledge their presence or to remember others whose lives are a constant struggle for survival. Reflection on this reminds us to see and appreciate the richness and beauty we enjoy. Finding ways to share our abundance helps us to express our gratefulness to the One who is the source of all we have.
Prayer
I will bless God at all times:
God’s praise shall ever be on my lips
Psalm 34
Action
End each day by clearing your mind and remembering the people and resources that made it a blessing. Educate yourself to conditions under which other people live and work so that we can have these things. Find ways to share and offer assistance.
Suggested Reading
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
1 Corinthians 4:7
The world needs hope. And with gratitude, with this habit of saying thank you, we transmit a bit of hope. Everything is united and everything is connected, and everyone needs to do his or her part wherever we are.
Pope Francis
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart
Gratitude emerges in almost all religious thinking. The most obvious reason is that we are creatures and owe our existence to a Creator. Yet those who do not believe in a Creator perhaps find the greatest reason to be grateful. If this world is all we’ve got, it is all the more precious. Cherish it and live each moment for all it’s worth.
Jerry Brady
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”
William A. Ward
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.
W.T. Purkiser
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?
G.K. Chesterton
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
Khalil Gibran
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey