GRATITUDE

For the family reunion up in Itasca a couple of weeks ago I brought about half of my beads so that my young nieces could make some jewelry.  They loved it.  When we go home I forgot to take them in the house and someone broke in the car and stole them.  I felt violated.  I posted it on Facebook.  As a result my friend Donna gave me almost her entire collection of beads.  She said they were a burden because she wasn’t using them.  I brought them home and for the last couple of weeks I have been sorting them in containers.  I am nearly finished.  It turns out that she has given me twice as much as I lost.  The quality is the same or better.  Semiprecious stones and glass.  The gratitude is impossible to escape.  I am overwhelmed.  I have always know that gratitude is a powerful force and a divine path but I have learned something more about it.  Its not just that Gratitude is the right thing to feel in a moral sense.  Its that when you are consumed with gratitude there is no room for other emotions that are harmful.  I think this is particularly true for arrogance.  Walking in gratitude demands humility.