G is for . . . Gratitude

Image courtesy: Raj Manchekar



There you, my dearies,

Ah, La Niña, you brought your ABC book along, with the page open at G. Glad to know you missed our sessions.

In your book, G is for glass. Notice that the glass is half full, as opposed to completely empty, which leads us to an important G in my opinion: Gratitude.

Gratitude is simply the attitude of being grateful for all you've got, remembering that it is always much, much more than many others have, no matter how little it seems when compared to what someone else has. Gratitude requires us to see everything through the glasses of gratefulness.

We humans are notorious for accepting the richest of gifts without a word of thanks. We barely realise how wealthy we are, until we lose what we have. Gratitude is the glue that holds our blessings together and prevents them from breaking apart.

It is not enough to feel gratitude. Silent gratitude never did anyone any good. One must express it out loud to people, strangers and friends, parents and children, wives and husbands, and anyone who does something good for us. No matter how big or small.

Both of you have celebrated birthdays in the last ten days. How much fun do you think it would be if people came for your birthday, bearing nicely wrapped gifts and then took them back right after the party was over?

Believe me, there is much to be grateful for. The food on our plates, the pillow under our heads, the roof overhead, our clothes, school, families -- the list could go on forever. Gratitude has the power to transform our caterpillar-like lives into something akin to the beauty that is a butterfly.

When you, La Niña, say Thank you to me in your sweet voice, or you, El Niño, say Than-tu in your broken English, I feel charged to do more for you. Your few words of innocent gratefulness remind that in being your mother, I have found one of my true callings.

I want to leave you with a secret: The more that you are grateful for, the more you have to be grateful for.

My wish for you is that you may not restrict the saying of grace only to mealtimes. Honour the smallest thing that anyone does for you. Give thanks for the sunshine and your talents, your strengths and the beauty of nature. Set aside time every day in which to express gratitude. Maintain a gratitude journal. Spend ten minutes before going to bed to thank God for all the little things that made you happy. And whenever you pray, let Thank you be the full stop to your prayer.

I am grateful to you for enriching my life, for making it beautiful in more ways than I can count.

Until tomorrow, my little ones, Hasta la vista.