Gratefulness

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

“The practice of gratefulness that I’m concerned with is grateful living. That means every moment of your life you practice gratefulness.” – David Steindl-Rast

I came across this quote just this afternoon, and already it’s become important to me. I was thinking about it as I was having a cup of coffee in our sunroom, and I happened to glance at my 78-year-old hands

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and suddenly – for the very first time, I think – I became grateful for them, these funny-looking, wrinkled, beautiful hands. They just seemed amazing to me as I looked at them – the lines and swirls flowing every which way, the many soft shades of color, the seeming tenderheartedness of them as they relaxed on my legs. I began thinking of their marvelous qualities – the way they can still move in countless ways, and how they’ve hung faithfully beside me for 78 years, and the fact that they’ve so often folded together in friendship in times of fear and sorrow, holding each other for comfort. I began wondering … where did they come from? and how did they become what they are today as they rest on my legs? and why haven’t I ever been grateful for them until now, these dear hands of mine?

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