I’ve been reading a book on ethical practices where the author’s emphasis was on practicing gratitude for your mental, physical and spiritual health. He made a good case for it intellectually.
Yesterday, someone at church mentioned gratitude. I made a note.
Following two days of meetings in Chicago, I followed the Friday’s storm home. It was perhaps 4 hours ahead of me. Across northern Indiana I could see where power was out. Or where there were an occasional oasis of power where people thronged for dinner. (Busiest Arby’s I’ve ever witnessed in Warsaw, Indiana.)
We had no power from 4 pm on Friday until about 8 pm on Saturday. Then a storm blew through Sunday afternoon and knocked out the power again. It’s 11 am Monday, and I’m operating off the charge I got at Tim Horton’s this morning.
There are ways to practice gratitude from this:
- There were no deaths from the storm
- It is summer, so no worries about freezing to death
- Power and cable was on long enough for me to see the Euro 2012 Championship game (soccer-Spain was simply masterful)
- We had no property damage
- We were at a 7-in. rainfall deficit for the year, now it’s 2.5 (4.5 inches of rain in three days)
- My wife has many leaves and small tree limbs to pick up–that’ll keep her occupied for a while
It’s a good practice to spend at least 5 minutes a day looking for things to be grateful for. It’ll change your outlook on life.
Faith Venture 
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