Finding Sense in Gratitude …
Nov 02, 2017 04:04PM ● By Annette Briggs (Owner/Publisher)
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow.” These are the words of Melody Beattie, American author of 18 books published in numerous languages. Wow, what a powerful statement! And just the springboard I needed to jumpstart my inspirational thoughts about one of November’s most important national observances: gratitude.
November is recognized as National Gratitude Month. And what is gratitude? Well, the dictionary defines it as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Sounds great, huh? However, when the raft of intellectual philosophy collides with the iceberg of life-altering reality … the raft is in serious trouble.
So, Beattie’s poignant words of wisdom serve as the ideal anchor of hope to keep us from going adrift and potentially capsizing into a sea of hopelessness and despair—moving us further and further away from the shores of gratitude. I am a positive person by nature. However, life hurts at times, and people do hit back—hard! In addition, life’s challenges and difficulties (many unforeseen, and even tragic) can often leave us in search of answers to soul-searching questions. All true. But if we can find perspective from yesterday’s positive experiences, expectancy from today’s potential, and hopeful optimism from tomorrow’s possibilities, then gratitude will find us just in time for Thanksgiving. Make sense?
With sensible gratitude,
