A Grateful Heart Does Not Need More Stuff

Years ago, a WordPress Daily Prompt asked writers if we could only take five objects from a burning house, what would be the most difficult things for us to leave behind?  Well really, the only objects I consider to be important are photos of family, my computer, passport and ID, a bible, and bank card, assuming that I am wearing my wedding ring and gold cross like always. That’s it. My grateful heart is not in stuff.

As for regrets, I really do not think that my heart is in things. Since I was a little girl, I have felt grateful for what I have materially. My ninety-year-old mum still remembers trying unsuccessfully to find out what I wanted for Christmas when I was a little girl. Even now, when one of my nine kids asks me what I want for Christmas, I pause for a moment with a blank mind. I have to search to come up with a list. I am content and grateful.

Rather a strange state to be in because this is not the result of spiritual striving, fasting, or prayer, it is just how I am wired. Living with little people has only strengthened an innate tendency to enjoy the little things, to be grateful to be alive and in communion with the Spirit.

As a large family with barely enough cash but many blessings, we have experienced many incidents of God’s providence. This scripture resonates within all of us.

Do Not Worry

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:25-34).

Jesus’s words are beautiful.  They are healing.  Such simple words, but so hard for many of us to live by. Kids understand these words, reminding me that the key to happiness and joy is not stuff but gratefulness and appreciation for the beauty that surrounds us. There is much to be grateful for if we will simply stop for a moment and really see what actually surrounds us every day. Children delight in the plethora of tiny details all around them. They are born with a sense of wonder and the ability to enjoy simple pleasures.  Perhaps it is because they are closer to the ground when we tried to go for a walk but they stopped at every flower and bug, especially a bug on a flower. As they look, touch, smell, and even lick each wonderful new discovery, all their attention is riveted on that one thing.

At first, it was difficult to slow down during our walks and let the toddlers set the pace but it was a wonderful instruction on how to relax, be grateful and become fully present at the moment. Walking with my firstborn, I was only aware of enjoying whatever captured my toddler’s attention but now I realize that he was experiencing so much more than I initially thought. In his silent, non-verbal attention to nature, he was in deep communion with God Himself as He was present in His creation.

Adults struggle for years to merely glimpse the intimacy that little children have naturally with God. They do not need to strive or work for this state of contemplation because they are without guile, prior opinions, or expectations; they are open and look with trust, ready to absorb the love, joy, and peace that envelopes them. Children are grateful for everything.

Ah, to live as a grateful person and in thankfulness is a taste of heaven. Even if I were to live in the midst of a concrete jungle, I could at least stop for a moment, look up and give thanks. I simply need to remind myself to glance upwards, above my little busy world, and enjoy the sky. The sky alone is an extravagant present that continually fills me with joy if I remember to take a break from my ‘important’ business to be grateful. Every time we attend mass, we are constantly reminded to give thanks to a Heavenly Father simply because life in, with, and through Him is a joyful experience no matter what our situation.

The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification.  Eucharist means first of all ‘thanksgiving’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1360).