Virtues

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul."-- Henry Ward Beecher

Most of the time I forget to be grateful. I don't feel thankful until I lose something and then I realize how grateful I was to have it in the first place. But once that thing I took for granted is gone, I lament even the lost opportunity to be thankful for it. This is one of the oldest principles in the book, but as most of these old principles go, you don't "get it" until you feel it personally.

I went to a friend's 30th birthday party this weekend. It was incredible...probably about 100 people showed up to celebrate him. People love and appreciate him, and although I don't know him well, I feel that I learned a lot about him just by hearing witness of his great friendship, sweet spirit, etc. What really stuck with me, though, is that at the end of many laudatory speeches by his friends, the birthday boy stood up and told everyone how grateful he was for all of us and for another year to live. His gratitude was exemplary of the quote at the beginning of this blog post. It was so humble and beautiful to witness his gratitude.

I feel more like grumbling than thanking God sometimes. Most currently I feel this way about disappointment in love. I definitely have not felt grateful for that. In fact, I would willingly never have to go through that ever again. But God is slowly helping me to be grateful for the experiences that He allows me to walk through. And I do believe that He redeems and perfects everything. So I continue to ask God to help me be grateful and thankful for this experience, even if some days I feel so hurt that God would allow me to go through this. I am grateful to God for living and livelihood and my health and heart and mind and community and family. I pray that my heart feels grateful even for the intense disappointments and hurts I have experienced.