Sacred Life Sunday: Gratitude

i discovered a most lovely website recently, for the sophia center. they sell some beautiful things *sigh* i just love their hearthstones and would love a set for my hallway, but sadly they only ship to the US :o(

however, you can choose a hearthstone virtually... and today i 'chose' gratitude - this is what it said:

When you choose the Hearthstone: gratitude you are invited to see everything as a gift for you. A gift that Someone has carefully wrapped and left at your front door. It is your response to all the ways that you realize you are the One you have been waiting for and that you are worthy of all the abundant outpouring the Universe has been offering you each moment you enter. Even the seemingly difficult challenges are beautifully wrapped packages for you to open today. Let your only response be a happy heart that you are the one who gets all the surpises today, and a wonder at what will this mysterious gift really turn out to be...

i do indeed endeavour to cultivate gratitude in my heart - i have kept a gratitude journal for several years now, where i record at least 5 things i'm grateful for at the end of each day. the second pic shows my 2009 journal. i purchased it from meg at bindingbee, originally for a friend's birthday present! but i thought it was the perfect size and shape for a gratitude journal, so i kept it :o)

i've had no trouble listing 5 things a day so far - 2009's started brilliantly, as you can see from the posts here! yesterday we travelled to cambridge to spend a wonderful day with an old schoolfriend and her family - her two girls are roughly the same age as my two - the hours just flew by!! at one point, as we watched the four kids playing rapidough, i turned to jo marvelling at how these beautiful teen and pre-teen kids can be ours!! i mean, we're still only 25!!! and, of course, we look as we've always looked!! at such moments my heart is full and my body is lithe and supple, and my life's an adventure just beginning to unfold...

sadly, the reality today is a little harsher - i've slept most of the day, and everything aches :o(

however, my heart is still full of gratitude for everything i am experiencing!! of course, i'll never be 25 again, but i do have precious family and friends with whom i can remember the past, enjoy the present, and make plans for the future, what more could i need???