Gratitude Keeps Me Going

When I'm really down in the dumps, all I have to remember is to be grateful to get back out.

Last week my car was stolen while I was at work. I worked from noon until 4pm - so it was during broad daylight and right off of a busy main street. I was shocked. My car is 21 years old and has over 324,700 miles on it. It did not even occur to me for at least a minute that someone took it. I mean, why would anyone take my funky car? They don't know that it still gets 38 mpg. 

Anyway, once it sunk in that that was the only logical conclusion, I started praying. AND, I started with my gratitudes. I was at first grateful that I had been given the car last year and had had all this use of it. I was grateful that my husband was on staycation for the week, so he could pick me up readily. And I silently gave thanks that I was able to find a friendly police person to report the theft to.

Long story short, in the end I stayed in gratitude for the whole experience, even when they found the car and I had to pay $220 to retrieve it from the tow yard a few blocks from my job. And I prayed for guidance.

That is where the big gratitude comes in, with another story. Many years ago I took an important trip in another funky vehicle. It got me there and back again despite all odds, fueled on prayer and guidance, and then completely quit working as I drove into my driveway. As I was walking the 3 mile hike to the bus to get to work the next morning, I prayed and expressed my deep gratitude for the safe travels and all of the clear guidance I had experienced. Then I said,

"You know, it would be really cool, if just once, you would send me really clear guidance sometime, like in the form of a written message. Just so I would really know I wasn't making it up."

A few feet further on my trek to the bus, I noticed something bright blue on the side of the road. It caught my eye, so I stopped and picked it up. It was a laminated poster thingy. It said, "Miracles do happen."

 
My heart filled to overflowing with gratitude. There was something sticky on the back of it, so without thinking, I pulled it off, crumpled it up and tossed it back in the ditch. Then I turned the thing over. There was a very clear rectangle where something had been there to block the suns rays, so that it was faded differently. I picked up the paper I had tossed, uncrumpled it, and read what it had to say, "Message."

That day was one of those miracle-spiritual pinnacle days in my life. I've kept the Message hung on my wall wherever I have lived all of these years since.

So, back to the car.

When I went and picked up my retrieved stolen car last week, I prayed again with gratitude. It started right up. There were no parts missing from it, nothing missing from inside it either. I kept re-affirming that even having to pay the $220 was some kind of a God thing, and that I would remain grateful for having the money to pay it. 

A little ways down the road, I looked in the back seat. Everything had been taken from the floor, and put up on the seat, except one blue thing. There was my Message! laying on the floor of the car! All I can say is, with gratitude, Miracles do happen.

Surrender

I surrender. Then, a bit later, I surrender again. And, a few moments later, once more. Some days it's like that for me. More often than not.

And every time that I surrender, I have a moment of release, and peace, and serenity, even. Maybe, it's the habit of slipping into gratitude at the drop of a hat, and probably it is more likely the moment by moment surrender that fosters the underlying joy in my heart every day, under everything, even the tough stuff.

I don't throw up any white flags. It is nothing about defeat in battle. Rather, it is knowing my better with every fiber of my being. I can let go of my false pride and simply let go of my false sense of control over those things that I really have no control over at all.

It is a gift from higher power. And I am ever grateful, whatever causes it.

The Gift of a Life!

Each morning that I awaken and remember with heartfelt gratitude what a gift life really is, the rest of the day flows easier. Even when there are tough things to walk through, the walking is easier with an attitude of gratitude in my gut.

There have been times in my life that I took it all for granted and plenty of time that I just shucked it through lack of attention or due to abuse of one kind or another. During those dark days hard stuff hit me hard, except of course when I was completely oblivious to it. I think the point is life was pretty much miserable and filled with drama.

Nowadays, however, I recognize what an absolute gift life really is. And when I consciously appreciate that, and give thanks for it, it is a joyous and serene gift indeed.

So special...

Most all of my life, I have considered myself "different." That belief has been reflected back to me by many others. Certainly, most of my life was different than the norm in it's outward appearance. I mean, not a lot of people lived in a cabin on a mountain as a child, with no water or electricity. Few studied by candlelight, or broke the ice on the creek to wash their face. At least, that is not the norm nowadays, except for maybe those unfortunate enough to be experiencing homelessness, and the few hardy souls that have chosen to live off the grid. I haven't watched TV a majority of my life. That alone has given me a whole different slant on life than those who are immersed in the culture of television.

Yet, it is not the differences that matter most to my heart and my experience of my Higher Power. It is working the steps on my flavor of insanity that awakens my awareness of our commonality, of the love of a community dedicated to this spiritual journey, of the similarity we reflect in our humanity.  Every time I remember "There but for the Grace of God go I," it seems most apparent that I am far less different than I might consider myself. I may be unique, but so is every other person on this planet. We share that trait. Even in our differences we are the same.