31 Days of Yes: Gratitude

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I quote Ann from A Holy Experience more than I should, but I can't help it.  (It's a good thing I don't make any money off this blog because I'd probably owe her twenty percent or something.)  Her book One Thousand Gifts prompted a huge turn in my life.  I suppose her writing style is not for everyone, but for me, it reveals one woman passionately (desperately?) seeking the path to deep, abiding joy and True Love.  Exactly who I want to be.



Now, there are some negative reviews on One Thousand Gifts, and it's probably a good idea for someone to read them before buying the book.  The writing style is lyrical and rather stream-of-consciousness, and so different from most other work I've read.  I did not mind it, and enjoyed it for the most part.  There are a few spots in the book where the poetic imagery sort of runs off into the hazy horizon and weirds people out, but I think that's what makes the book move people out of their habit of ordinariness; Ann's way of turning the everyday inside out and inviting you to see the beauty hiding just inside.

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I always have thought living with gratitude was important, but now I keep a Gifts list in the back of my journal (#856 and going strong), and I search for beauty and poignancy everywhere because doing so reminds me that I am a created being; a carefully written part of the Master's story.  Ann writes today:

". . .I knit brows over kids yelling, and when did I start thinking serenity was something that I owned, that peace was something I had property rights to — and that I’d been straight out robbed if I lost a bit of peace and quiet? How can I lose it when I lose things as trite as a clean counter, a break, an uninterrupted moment? . . . 

Who am I to complain in losses — when what I lost wasn't mine to begin with? . . .Everything I have isn't a given — it’s given.

Nothing is a given — everything’s a gift."

501) Ava sympathizing with the baby: "It's so sad that Charlotte is sick.  It makes me so sad, I almost want to cry!"

502) No black lung:  Ava: "It's so sad when a baby dies, even sadder than anything!"  Me: "Charlotte is sick, but not scary sick, so you don't need to worry about that."  Ava: "Yeah, she's ok, she doesn't have the black lung."

503) Wyatt's sweet voice saying, "This one, Daddy?  Oh, Daddy needs a blue napkin for his foot!"

504) Sibling love (for a change!) "Mama, can I stay with Wyatt forever?"


Day Twenty-Two 

This post is part of the series 31 Days of Yes.  Click here to see a list of all the posts.