As I look back on the last four weeks of writing this series and reading each entry multiple times, one question keeps popping up: Now what?
Now that I have put my thoughts on paper, gained a little more clarity, expanded the capacity of my own spiritual practice of gratefulness and thankfulness, where do I go from here? I wonder if I have been changed in any way, or if I will do things a little bit differently today.
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills ...” This is the opening sentence of the book Out of Africa, and it’s probably one of my most cherished lines from any book.
From one sentence that says so little, my attention is caught and my imagination kicks in. I begin to wonder what will come next as my curiosity builds.
Where is this story going?
Will anyone else be touched by it?
The other morning I had a meltdown. By meltdown, I mean I was crying so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. This kind of intense crying isn’t something new; I have experienced it during the most painful times of my life. The difference, though, on this morning was that I was weeping in celebration. I had opened myself so completely to acknowledging the reality of wholeness that the tears overflowed as I was wrapped in the compassionate arms of another.
I have often heard the phrase “In all things, we give thanks.” I must confess that sometimes I have silently wondered, “Really? All things?” I don’t know about anyone else, but I have been met by plenty of people and experiences where giving thanks or extending gratitude was not even on my radar screen.
It is on these occasions that I recognize the invitation to return to a thankful heart, and even more than that, a return to the consciousness of gratefulness. So for the next four weeks, my invitation to you is to join me on this journey of gratefulness, or as the title says, “The Great Fullness of Life.”