By Sister Mary Scholastica, O.C.D.
As we approach Thanksgiving, it would be appropriate to reflect upon gratitude or something along those lines. It’s fascinating how studies show that having a consistent grateful outlook changes the trajectory of our lives. That’s huge! It’s one of those basic things we know to be true, but don’t always put in the effort. We know eating healthy and exercising is good for us on many levels, yet how many of us REALLY regularly exercise and eat healthy?
That brings us back to the topic of gratitude.
When we think of what we’re grateful for, I would imagine we’d think of our faith, our families, good fortune, blessings, good friends, etc. I would also imagine that we wouldn’t necessarily think of the tough moments in our life, the times when we deeply struggled, experienced friction in relationships, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or the loss of fortune, times when our ego was bruised.
Every person on earth must live their own story and go on their own unique life journey. One thing we can be sure of, no one is exempt from struggle, pain, and suffering. It’s there. It’s part of the redemptive story we’re living as God redeems our woundedness, suffering and pain. He even told us that by His wounds, we are healed.
What if we broadened our gratitude perspective to be all-encompassing to include these times of hardship and suffering? What are we grateful for in these moments? The gift of perseverance, the fact that we’re stronger interiorly, the fact that our suffering has given us compassion for others, deepened our faith, inspired others, allowed us to fall and get up again and again and again and gratitude that we haven’t given up.
Couple this kind of gratitude with the gratitude that comes naturally in relation to our blessings in life, and without fail, it can change the trajectory of our lives.
