“The long arc of history bends towards justice.”
Dr Martin Luther King
I promised that I would tie Gratitude to the transformation possibilities in our world
every day. This has been a week that would easily provoke stress and a loss of hope.
From the last minute Christmas rush, to the losses on the stock market – to many
Federal workers facing no paychecks – it has seemed instead, like a week that needs
miracles.
I might say every week needs miracles – and I would also say that gratitude for the
Givingness in our lives is a miracle – one that we can perform for everyone we meet
and in everything we do.
I saw a purple baseball cap inscribed with the words “Make America Grateful Again”
slogans are fine, actions are better.
There are two levels to practicing gratitude: the Personal and the Public. We need
both to move ahead.
Mary Jo Leddy’s book -Radical Gratitude proposes ten habits of being that can help us
live with spirit in a dispirited time and place. Here is her list in entirety.
1. Begin before you are ready.
2. Practice gratitude in prayers, reflections, chants and meditations.
3. Gather with like-spirited people. Find or start a group committed to gratefulness as a way of
life.
4. Live more simply
5. Look for good examples of grateful people in your life and from history. Learn from them
6. Think with your heart.
7. See differently (develop “soft eyes”
8. Be connected to a longer wisdom tradition
9. Find a beloved community – and be part of it, really be part of it.
10. Contemplate the face of the world- turn toward it
Of course don’t feel you need to do all these things- Start with whatever inspires you and move toward what calls to you. Trust your unique path.
To create a politics of gratitude we need to develop specific practices for shaping our
common life. There is little guidance on the topic regarding specific public practices,
but there are general practices that open our imaginations to the possibilities ahead.
We will begin with the ethics of gratitude, which point us to a new and deeper
understanding of the Golden Rule.
“The politics of gratitude necessarily leads us to a focus on the common good
and a whole life commitment to securing conditions that reflect the worth and
dignity of all. It leads one to affirm the universal destination of goods -the
recognition that the goods of creation “are destined for the whole human race.”
One’s claim to such goods, to one’s most basic needs, is just as legitimate if one
is an orphan in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as if one is born to a
Senator or CEO in one of the wealthiest enclaves of the United States.”
Author unknown
As we celebrate this day of Givingness – Christmas Day – may we contemplate
a community of gratefulness – do one of Mary Jo’s personal practices, and
come back next week for the public call to action for world changing gratitude.
Blessings to you and yours on this day of light and love,
