Skip to main content

Day 85: What is Gratitude?


I mostly think  of my daily gratitude item about which to write in terms of something that made me happy, something I liked, or something I felt glad to see, hear, do, or have. I think that's legit. It's my blog and I'll write what I want!

Then I listened to the newest episode of my favorite podcast today. If you're short on time, head over and start listening around minute 8. Don't keep reading. My spirit animal Father Nathan made me do a double-take when he said this:

Gratitude is an attitude of grace wherein everything is gift. 
Everything that Jesus is going to be doing, saying, being for us is gift. 
What we do in these Holy Week liturgies is just allow him to do that. 
Allow Him to give us the gift!

Most days I find it easy to be grateful for my spouse and kids, our home, friends, family church, food, clothing, iPhones and all of the things we have and enjoy. However, it's much tougher to view everything as a gift from God -- our sorrows, sufferings and challenges as well as our joys. Do I ever step back and view my entire being and all that comes with it as a gift?

It might be only Catholics who can believe suffering can truly be a gift, that it can be redemptive. That's certainly a counter-cultural stance these days, when people will go to great lengths to avoid suffering. I agree that gratitude for suffering is certainly a strange worldview. I want to feel great and happy all the time! I am a terrible sufferer. I can barely function for a day with a sore throat or a headache. Times of uncertainly cause me to worry more and pray less. I admire people who can endure suffering with real hope and an underlying sense of joy. But how often do I do it? Pretty rarely.

I sway from one end of the spectrum to the other: "My sufferings are so terrible! How can anyone relate?" Or guilt for thinking such small things could actually count as sufferings. "Don't I know how great I have it? Sheesh." None of our joys or sufferings are too big or too small for God, though. All of that is a gift to us that we can turn right back and give to Him.

I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said about gratitude. About how everything is a gift. Not just my nice, big, warm house. Not just my beautiful and healthy kids and my loving, hard-working spouse. Not just great relationships with our families. Not just my helpful and inspiring friends or anything else that is good in my life and makes me happy.

What about the hunger I feel on fast days? A gift. The illness that allows me to rejoice at the first sign of healing. A gift. Walking through a difficult time with a friend or family member. A gift. I have a great idea and it gets shot down. A gift. The day doesn't go according to my plan. A gift.

I can certainly try harder to experience true gratitude daily, having realized that my life is a gift and that my goal isn't to be as comfortable as possible here, but to get to Heaven for eternity. In just a few hours we get to celebrate Easter and its corresponding joy. Our lives are gifts. We are here because of and for Easter. I sincerely hope that whatever joyful or difficult times you are experiencing now, you can take comfort in being a beloved son or daughter of God. He has given you a gift.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Am A Blogger: CWBN 2017 Recap

The last weekend in March I had the great pleasure of attending a real life blogging conference! Like a real blogger! Cathedral of St. Paul Jacqui ,  Anna  and  Susanna  hosted the Catholic Women's Blogging Network Twin Cities get together at a stunning Summit Avenue mansion in St. Paul. Thirty-some wonderful Catholic women from the Twin Cities, the Midwest, and even Maryland joined up to talk blogging and really just to support each other and build each other up. My friend Monica encouraged me to go, and I signed up on a bit of a whim, figuring that if I paid for registration I'd be more inclined to go. If I didn't have a mutual friend link to one of the organizers, and if a couple of my most favoritest bloggers hadn't been speakers, I'd probably have chickened out.  In response to my evident nerves on the way, my husband wisely mused, "Well, if you're going to walk into a group of people you don't know, this is probably the best group yo

Hey! Remember me?

Hey! I'm still here! I haven't given up on ye olde blog just yet, but I haven't had much to write about. I've been spending most of my time reading, mothering, household-running, reading, watching Instagram stories, and house hunting. Whew. Summer is flying by at breakneck speeds and I can barely keep up. I've read more books already than I did last year, which I think is saying a lot because I read more books last year than any year since I became a mother. I didn't set a number goal, but I did list out 10 or 15 that I wanted to get to. I've finished most, including the Harry Potters, but not all. It's a good reading year! Right now I'm reading one by a woman who gave up the Internet for a year. Insert scared emoji face. House hunting will likely be a whole separate post...someday. I have a few other posts in the rusty old brain, so we'll see if they come to fruition. I just didn't want you to forget about me!

Overwhelmed by Information

We are experiencing crazy nice weather for North Dakota February. Today it was in the 40s so I took the kids out to play. We were out about 75 minutes. It wasn't many minutes into watching them shovel, throw ice chunks, and wander around that I got a little bored. I purposely left my phone upstairs (SO NOBLE, RIGHT?) but I found myself wishing I'd have brought my book. Then it struck me that I have information flowing into my brain almost constantly, and that I actually needed some time to wander around with no phone, no book, no radio, etc. I love reading, so much so that I'll read darn near anything. Kindergarten newsletter? Check. Junk mail? Sure. Random article shared on Facebook that I know will make my blood boil? Probably, if I'm bored enough. If I'm not reading, I'm usually listening. The radio or TV is on in the background, or I automatically throw on a podcast or audiobook if I have any amount of alone time for a walk or a drive. There is informati