Gratitude

I got caught up on my blog reading this morning and this particular piece really spoke to me. It sums up exactly how I've been feeling the past few weeks. This is from Kristen Armstrong's blog, Mile Markers.


I believe our evolution of pleasure is not unlike our evolution of gratitude.  When we are young, gratitude looks a lot like glad. I am thankful for things I have, thankful (glad) when I get what I want, or thankful (glad) when things go my way.  

I am still grateful for the things and the comforts in my life, and I am thankful when things go smoothly or turn out the way I’d hoped. But my evolution is in a more pervasive spirit of gratitude that transcends the assignment of a positive or negative label. I have learned so much in recent times. These lessons have simultaneously strengthened me and softened and yielded my heart to a place where I can simply be grateful (period).

I can be grateful for the things that feel pleasurable, as well as for the things that cause pain. I can be thankful for success, and the failures and mistakes that become wisdom. I can be grateful for what comes, as well as what goes. I can be equally thankful for blessings and burdens, because when experienced humbly and gracefully, both lead deeper into gratitude.