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Gratefulness
Today I am grateful to be alive, to feel, see and know the grace and power of something we call Spirit. That alone is joy and gift enough!
Now and then a situation will come along that needs to be dealt with head on. There’s no going around it and avoiding it altogether is not an option either. When this happens the operative phrase that comes into play is “attitude adjustment!” I may not like it one bit, but once I adjust my attitude the situation is a lot easier to deal with.
I consider myself immensely fortunate to have been given a life with a long view and purpose.
Perhaps, and hopefully, I’m growing in acceptance that there are some things that my body could once do that advancing age no longer allows. In certain areas I am already at full acceptance, yet, in other parts of my life, especially in areas that tend to feed my heart and soul , I’m not there yet.
If ever there was a perfect question for me, this is it! I am ten days away from finally having back surgery (laminectemy with fusion for L3, L4 and L5) I have been living with and managing chronic lower back pain with every kind of treatment for almost eight years. And as long as the recovery is expected to be, I am looking forward to relief down the road.
Remaining positive, upbeat and grateful through it all has been the most challenging thing to manage, actually. Because when I all...
Remaining positive, upbeat and grateful through it all has been the most challenging thing to manage, actually. Because when I allow myself to slide into discouragement not only does it impact my relationships with those around me, it deminishes my creativity with my writing and protography.
But to answer today’s question, for me, practicing a measure of grateful living while living with pain has required prayer, meditation, listening to what the pain is telling me and remembering that I am feeling pain because I am alive, still, and that is the greatest gift that there is. _ Kevin
Birds at sunrise, Seagulls as we row, A grandson’s laugh, Our dog’s howl whenever the phone rings, “Hi Grampa!” My wife’s footsteps, Two granddaughters singing in the car, Rain at night before I sleep.
Probably not very much because I already believe that everything around me is an opportunity to learn. A more pertinent question for me to ask of myself, however, is this: Do I take that opportunity to learn? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. – Kevin
Watching the sun slowly rise off in the distance. I can’t see the actual sun itself yet, but the splashes of reds, blues and purple colors ahead of where the sun will appear are stunning!
It means that we should love, respect and support our neighbors without exceptions.
Who can I forgive today? I will start with myself, and then move onward from there. The business of not forgiving and not letting go can be the heaviest burden we carry.
Deciding to have back surgery later this month instead of putting it off until early fall. The opportunities, if one can call it that, is that helps insure that I’ll repair some nerve damage sooner than later, and of course, hopefully feel better sooner too.
I am fortunate in more ways than I can count, actually. I am alive, I could read today’s daily question with my own eyes and I read it on a computer screen that is connected to the Internet. How amazing is that? I am also fortunate because I have plans for this day and look forward to experiencing each hour that comes. Hallelujah! – Kevin
Thanks very, very much, Your thoughtful comments and prayers are indeed a gift I will take with me into surgery next Tuesday! I think that getting this surgery done will, in time, be a very good thing. At least I am hopeful that it will be.
My best to you. Thanks again!
Hello Deb, thank you for your kind and affirming words here. My surgery time is scheduled for Tuesday, May 30 at 7:30 AM at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Your thoughts, prayers and healing energy sent that way are great appreciated as I firm’y believe and have witnessed how energy delivered has worked before.
My very best to you as well on this fine springtime day here in the NE US.
You are so 100% right, Aine! Those kinds of positions are the most painful these days to try and get to!
Thanks, Antoinette, it does feel like a countdown…and I’d move the hands of the clock faster if I could!
Thank you, Malag.
“Trying to find some replacement hopes and dreams” does seem to be the key here, it seems.for sure, Pilgrim. Travel hopefully, I say, travel hopefully…and why not!
Thanks Ursula. It’s a funny thing, I no sooner finished sharing that in this space this morning, when a friend of mine in a hospital two states away emailed me saying almost the same thing. He managed, following a very serious operation, to get a room that has a window facing east. I guess it’s true…we all share the same sun! 🙂
Thanks John, my upcoming surgery is a laminectomy with fusion, and the anticipated results are also very good. Thanks for the encouragement!
Dearest Ursula, humbly here, let me say that no higher assurance of prayer could come my way when delivered by you and by the presence of Saint Francis. As a Quaker, we hold not to icons and such, but for me, spiritually and emotionally, Saint Francis has always held a “high mystery” and a central presence in my spiritual practice. To be honest, I am not totally sure why either, which makes it all the more “real’ to my spiritual condition. We, my wife and I, have a bel...
Dearest Ursula, humbly here, let me say that no higher assurance of prayer could come my way when delivered by you and by the presence of Saint Francis. As a Quaker, we hold not to icons and such, but for me, spiritually and emotionally, Saint Francis has always held a “high mystery” and a central presence in my spiritual practice. To be honest, I am not totally sure why either, which makes it all the more “real’ to my spiritual condition. We, my wife and I, have a beloved little statue of what I call “Saint Franny” in our upper garden. Our dog, Gracie, knocked Franny over one day and poor Franny’s head fell off. But I glued it back on and there he stands in sun, shade and snow through the seasons. Check out the Gratefulness Lounge to see a picture of Saint Francis in the snow. And most especially, thank you for your thoughts and your prayer on my behalf and of others as you arrive at Assisi .
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