Gratitude Overcomes Life's Discouragement

Our country is 230 years old. It is a country experiencing continuous growing pains. Based on a democracy it is still working that concept out. Democracy does not come in a one size fits all. However, America tries to fit the concept into a country filled with diversity of cultures, religious and ethnic differences, and certainly national and global policies that impact upon the future evolution of our own democracy.

With a country that is at war on several fronts, domestic issues that confront our nation's citizens, and changes in political perspectives, it is easy to forget to give gratitude for this nation we live in.

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Yes, disagreement among our citizens is evident. However, it makes me grateful that we live in a nation that conceptually has agreed to disagree. I sit here weekly permitted to write a column about what I think, knowing that some agree, some disagree (and can let me know about their disagreement) or remain indifferent.

I am grateful to a nation built upon a constitution that reminds citizens "all men are created equal." It has taken a process of growth in our country over 200 years to incorporate that concept for all ethnic groups, but the path diligently pursued. The heart of the nation's people moved forward on building a nation that accepts the diversity of all as equal. Has it reached the epitome of success? No, but it continues to move forward.

9-11 traumatized our nation, yet gratefully we still live in a safe country. Can another incident happen within our borders? Yes. I am still grateful that we live in relative safety daily. Our risk is often more intense from our own citizens embarked in criminal activity rather than terrorists. However, my grandchildren go to school without fear of suicide bombers, read books from any resource, and have the opportunity to be educated.

Someone asked "Complaining about your hair turning grey? Be grateful that it isn't turning loose!" Of course, if your hair has turned loose, I suggest you can be grateful that bald is in vogue or your head is suitable for wearing a variety of hat styles.

I recognize that gratitude is something to remember daily for the simple things. I wake up in the morning and walk outside thanking the Creator for the sky above whether it is azure blue with fluffy white clouds or with dense gray storm clouds. The earth needs both the suns warmth and the rain to give nourishment to the land.

Joel Olsteen, author of Living Your Best Life Now said, "The seeds of discouragement cannot take root in a grateful heart." I've thought about that and discovered how often we allow discouragement to grow over what seems wrong. I'm no exception to it. This is not to say that disappointment, pain, frustration, betrayal, and unexpected events enter and can make life discouraging. I realize, however, that staying in discouragement only leads to more discouragement.

When my husband died, the memorial service took place in the high school gymnasium. The audience filled with students from the school and from the area. Confronting death at a young age is not easy. It is not standard to believe there is gratefulness in death for those who see life as just beginning.

With this understanding, I decided that the one thing present that day would be optimism. The theme of the memorial came from Psalms, "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." All music, tributes, and messages had to be uplifting, and forward thinking that day. The message was to focus on gratefulness for a life lived, and life to continue in gratefulness for the future to come for every individual present.

Dr. Alan Morinis, writes, "When you open up to the trait of gratitude, you see clearly and accurately how much good there is in your life. Gratitude affirms. Those things you are lacking are still there, and in reaching for gratitude no one is saying you ought to put on rose-colored glasses to obscure those shortcomings. But most of us tend to focus so heavily on the deficiencies in our lives that we barely perceive the good that counterbalances them."

In Jewish tradition, there is a practice to recite 100 blessings per day. In Native American tradition, gratefulness is express similarly for everything including the giving of an animal's life providing the meat. The animal is thanked, the ground is thanked for nourishing the plants, water is thanked, and so on.

I wonder how often we are grateful for our car starting in 20 below temps. Do we remember to have gratitude for the smile of a child, for the writer of the good book we read or the ability to see to read?
There is a story of two men in the hospital. One was by the window and described to the other man who could not leave his bed what he saw out the window. His descriptions were so descriptive of the wonderful things he saw. He died. The other man asked if he move to the window side of the room to view the scenes this man had described. When he looked out all he saw was the brick wall another hospital wing. In his disappointment he asked the nurse how the man could see all the things he described. She replied, "He was blind but he saw it all from the inside."

Surely, what we experience draws from our perspective from the inside. How we see things makes our world the reality we live in. If we woke up this morning and started it with complaints, frustration, dread of what we faced for the rest of the day, then that is what will return on this day.However, if we start the day with gratitude we have a better chance of living our day differently with an outlook to view what is right.

Loss of any kind can be discouraging. Loss can also open up the door to something new and with gratitude. Itzak Perlman, the famous violinist is crippled from polio. Yet he walks across each stage with the help of crutches, sits and plays heavenly music. Even when a string broke on his violin, he continued creating music that he discovered with the remaining strings.

Make gratitude your life's song.

MCStrom © 3/July/06

Gratitude Overcomes Life's Discouragement

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