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Gratitude Hurts



Why don't we live more gratefully?

We live in an ocean of joy - it engulfs us every day.  But so many of us are imagination hidden in a parched barren wasteland of complaint, of mote-driven hunger for what can never be?  What fuels this rock hard-heartedness.  We ignore voluptuous water drops and fiesta flowers.  Purposefully hurry-driven.

Gratitude hurts.  Kneeling next to a prayer-postured child we catch a glimpse of joy at the lisping, lilting voice sent heavenward.  But it hurts.  A captured moment, never capable of repetition.  There is some agony in this life truth.  This is only a moment.  So fast, so fleeting.  And there is also a sense of owing that worries us humans - the eternal balance sheet where we are always in someone else's debt.  We bury ourselves in busyness, projects, deadlines, clean kitchens and piles of paperwork even argument, war, slit-eyes full of hatred.  And we don't want to leave the little world we're sure we built ourselves to God's greater world of monumental creation.

I want suddenly to immerse myself in the gratitude.  Yes, the presences ness is overwhelming.  But this is the key to joyful living.  Living in the moment.  Each snowflake, each smile, each storm, each firefly is a tremendous gift.   And you will be worry-worn some nights with how little you have done.  How much He has.  But that balance has been paid too.  So be grateful.  Find joy in the journey.
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