Walk humbly

My mind is occupied lately with both gratitude and giving. I appreciated a conversation I had recently that encompasses both: a gal who is living on the margin and with need had the courage to come to our middle-class Sunday School class discussing Shane Claborne's "Irresistible Revolution" and speak out. It remains somewhat difficult for me to let myself ache with the world's pain of need, but I am attempting to do so in God's arms and love. And even in the midst of need, there can be reason to give thanks. This new acquaintance pointed out that though there are those that don't have much materially, there is often something they find blessing in or are blessed by, like maybe more community because they are interdependent.
I need not pity them while I give from material abundance, instead I can respect them, realize my own need in various other ways, and walk humbly side by side with my fellow sojourners.

He has showed you, O wo/man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8

Quieter

"The quieter you become,
the more you are able to hear."

- Baba Ram Dass

Daily proof

If to err is human, I have daily proof of my humanity. -Jayne Whyte

We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.

-J.K. Rowling, author (b. 1965)

Gives up all

“No soul can have rest until it finds created things are empty. When the soul gives up all for love, so that it can have Him that is all, then it finds true rest.”

- Julian of Norwich

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love...

– Joel 2:13a

Voice of the heart

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
– Psalm 13:5

Lately my prayers have been less wordy. Many of these ideas of Jean-Nicholas Grou (Jesuit priest, 1730-1803) in his writing How to Pray are resonating with me.

“Since prayer is a supernatural act, we must earnestly ask God to produce it in us, and then we must perform it tranquilly under his guidance…As St. Augustine says, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Know this is the essence of prayer. The posture of our body and the words we use have no significance in themselves and are only pleasing to God as they express the feelings of the heart. For it is the heart that prays, it is to the voice of the heart that God listens, and it is the heart that he answers…and it is through the heart that he enlightens the mind…

You ask me what this voice of the heart is. It is love which is the voice of the heart. Love God and you will always be speaking to him….God reads the secrets of the heart. God reads its most intimate feelings, even those which we are not aware of.”

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. –Proverbs 4:23

To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. – Mark 12:33

Curious and beautiful

"Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it."

- Agatha Christie, author (1890-1976)

Gratitude does a body good

“Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.”

– Steven Wright

It’s often easy to forget, and even easier to forget as I age. One area of forgetfulness for me is around how good I’ve got it; it is easy to take for granted all the comforts and good stuff of life.

I recently returned from a trip to Central America that was an informative mix of both plenty and sparse. We met and talked with daughter Rebekah’s coworkers and friends, ate dinner with a Managuan family, stayed a day at an ocean-side resort, and enjoyed the natural beauty of a crater lake and natural reserve area. In Nicaragua we saw much need among the people. It’s difficult to understand why some have so much and others so little. Seeing the “so little” gives sharp contrast to my “so much” and urges me to share my abundance. Certainly too it propels me toward greater gratitude.

Cultivating greater gratitude is a good thing. Robert Emmons (PhD, author, psychology professor and researcher at University of California, Davis) reminds us of some ways that gratitude does a body good:

- "Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations.”

- "Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress."

"The benefits of gratitude come from the long-term cultivation of the disposition of gratefulness through dedicated practice," writes Emmons in THANKS!: How The New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier (2007). “Gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change peoples’ lives.”

Below are few suggestions to practice gratitude from webmd. (I’ve said some of this before – it’s certainly not new news – but concepts we may need to remind ourselves of.)

• Maintain a gratitude journal. Emmons' research showed that people who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercise more regularly, report fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and maintain greater optimism about the future.
• Create a list of benefits in your life and ask yourself, "To what extent do I take these for granted?" Some people need concrete visual reminders to maintain mindfulness of their gratitude, explains Emmons. Today, write down five things for which you’re grateful.
• Talk to yourself in a creative, optimistic, and appreciate manner, or reframe a situation with a more positive attitude. If you're facing a challenging situation, determine how it might ultimately be beneficial; a for instance is recognizing that having to cope with particularly difficult people in your job or neighborhood can improve your patience and understanding.

I’ll close with a few quotes.

…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:18

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies. – Charles Jefferson

“I cannot tell you anything that, in a few minutes, will tell you how to be rich. But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful….It’s the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme.” – Ben Stein (actor, comedian, economist)

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero (Roman author, orator, and politician, 106 BC-43 BC)

“Gratitude implies humility – a recognition that we could not be who we are or where we are in life without the contributions of others… a knowing awareness that we are the recipients of goodness.” – Robert Emmons

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. I Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 106:1, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1 and 29, Psalm 136:1