Gratitude
“I have an important message for you: thank you for continuing to be a channel of grace in this world. Thank you, because it is not always an easy thing to do. If we become discouraged ourselves, doubting whether justice will prevail or peace will come at last, then we can keep ourselves from receiving the word of hope that is trying to pass through us to others. We slow the flow of grace into the lives of those for whom we care. But when we keep the channels wide open, unafraid of the future and full of faith, then we share strength where strength is needed most. So, thank you, thank you for keeping your heart open, thank you for letting love reach as far as it can.” Steven Charleston, daily Facebook email.
Whenever I am in some kind of funk, feeling sorry for myself, feeling low, thinking I am not valued or loved, I know of one prescription that always brings healing. I make a gratitude list. It never fails. It brings me back to reality and all I have to be grateful for. I also talk to friends who share the same egocentric disease with some awareness of it, and we laugh about our condition and how ridiculous it is!
Gratitude is at the heart of 12-step programs, especially gratitude for the love of others, and it is at the heart of the spiritual life. It is very difficult to lose recovery when we are grateful for and learn to appreciate loved ones in our lives. The same is true for keeping a spiritual connection to God. Making a gratitude list every day for people and situations and our surroundings can help us find recovery from addiction as well as help us know and feel that connection to the God who is always with us, who always loves us, who never leaves us.
As we list each day what we are grateful for, we suddenly or gradually realize that we are not alone, that we are cared for, that there is a love we cannot understand or fully know that is caring for us, has cared for us all our lives, has walked beside us, cried with us, laughed with us, and will never leave us.
Joanna joannaseibert.com