As we come away from our Thanksgiving celebration (although I am guessing many of us are still eating leftovers from our Thanksgiving dinner), I am reminded of a simple quote from Brother David Steindl-Rast.
In A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness, Brother David writes: “Happiness is not what makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy.”
A grateful heart is, indeed, a happy heart. When we realize that all we have, all we are, is gift from our loving God, it is impossible to do anything other than smile. Whether it is the beauty of the winter sky, the smell of incense during during Mass, a tasty meal, the voice of a friend, a beautiful voice raised in song – all there is reminds us that we are held in the hands of our loving God. And that is cause for happiness.
I posted a link on Thanksgiving morning of a video Brother David once did that reminded us that we have cause to count our blessings from morning to night. If you didn’t get a chance to watch it then, check it out today.
Creo en Dios! 