Today's Quotation:

You say grace before meals.  All right.  But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and the pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

G. K. Chesterton

Today's Meditation:

Saying grace is simply saying thanks, no matter to what or to whom we direct those thanks.  Saying thanks is one of the ways that we keep ourselves aware of all that we have to be thankful for, all that is given to us in our lives, all that we can enjoy and use and create and love.  I can write these words, and I can read them-- there are two things that I have to be thankful for immediately, for these two gifts bring a great richness to my life.  And there are many, many other gifts that make my life even richer.

Can you go for a walk today?  Have you eaten anything?  Have you heard a favorite song, or talked with a good friend?  Did you receive a paycheck or have enough money to make a contribution to a charity?  Can you feel interesting textures and see beautiful pictures?  We all have so many opportunities to say our own small graces many times each day, and doing so would help to keep us focused on all we have to be thankful for, all of the many, many things that make our lives so rich and glorious.

Our meals are gifts, in a very important way, and that's why we say thanks for them.  But there are so many other elements of our lives that feed our hearts and our spirits that we don't say thanks for, and that's somewhat sad, I think.  We feed ourselves not through food alone, but through all of the things that make us richer, fuller, more loving human beings.

When do you say grace?  How many opportunities do you have each day to say thanks for what you've been given without being asked anything in return?  All that we have and all that we do are important parts of who we are, and saying thanks for those things keeps us focused on the richness of this glorious experience called life.

Questions to ponder:

1.  How many times each day do you say grace?

2.  Does saying grace have to be something we do out loud, so that others can see how thankful we are?

3.  What kinds of things can you think of right now that you might say grace for?

For further thought:

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-- to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius

more thoughts and ideas on gratitude

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