...just be grateful!
I stopped at a traffic light the other day and a street child approached my car. I opened the window and handed him an orange (I don’t feel comfortable giving street kids money)... without any expression of gratitude in gesture or language, he said: “I want money”.
I reached out of the window and took back the orange and drove off…
I wonder what it is about ‘lack of gratitude’ that inflames me when I act in the interests of another? I justify to myself that if there is no gratitude, then the interests of that person have not been served, and the resource (time, energy, an orange..., whatever) would better be used for someone else… but that’s a justification; a partial truth, with many exceptions - especially in the case of children, who don't always know what is in their best interests.
But it got me thinking... what if there was an angry, jealous God (as described in the old testament), who on principle removed the blessings from those upon whom he had bestowed, should they fail to show the appropriate depth of gratitude...?
Do I radiate sufficient gratitude in my life to deserve all the wonderful things I have...?
The antithesis of the situation I experienced with that little street urchin was at another traffic light, when I stopped and opened the window to tell someone begging that I had nothing in the car to give him. In looking around the car my eyes fell upon half a sandwich, left over from the day before. I mentioned, embarrassed, that this half-sandwich is all that I have in the car. His face light up with gratitude. I handed him the sandwich and he acted as if I’d handed him a winning lotto ticket. It touched my heart in exactly the opposite manner from the incident mentioned above. I was motivated to drive home, get something for him and drive back to deliver it… that used almost an hour; an hour freely and easily given because of his expression of genuine gratitude.
But it got me thinking... what if there was an angry, jealous God (as described in the old testament), who on principle removed the blessings from those upon whom he had bestowed, should they fail to show the appropriate depth of gratitude...?
Do I radiate sufficient gratitude in my life to deserve all the wonderful things I have...?
The antithesis of the situation I experienced with that little street urchin was at another traffic light, when I stopped and opened the window to tell someone begging that I had nothing in the car to give him. In looking around the car my eyes fell upon half a sandwich, left over from the day before. I mentioned, embarrassed, that this half-sandwich is all that I have in the car. His face light up with gratitude. I handed him the sandwich and he acted as if I’d handed him a winning lotto ticket. It touched my heart in exactly the opposite manner from the incident mentioned above. I was motivated to drive home, get something for him and drive back to deliver it… that used almost an hour; an hour freely and easily given because of his expression of genuine gratitude.
There is a car guard, down at the beach… when you give him a tip, he pockets it without ever looking at it. He is always grateful and cheerful, irrespective of how much you give him… he never checks (I have seen him do the same with other people… money always straight into the same pocket – I have never seen him withdraw money from that pocket).
That seems to me the correct approach to the blessings of life… accept them without evaluation… be grateful and shine this gratitude to the universe… perhaps it is like a fly-wheel bringing blessings to those radiating gratitude.
So, don’t count your blessings… just be grateful…!
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