Do you think it’s important to thank God (or whomever your Higher Power is) for what you do have in life? I do, especially on days like today when I’m feeling rather down and out and my ego starts trying to tell me that my life sucks, because it really doesn’t.
Over the past few weeks I’ve really been struggling with my physical health and given the longevity I’ve been enduring some of these issues, my thoughts have strayed a bit from actually being thankful to God. But I’m a firm believer in the notion that things could always get worse and I’m also quite sure there’s an abundance of other people out there who could take one look at my life and wish they were in my shoes. With that being said, I decided it was crucial to my health, my recovery and my spirituality to thank God today for at least ten things I do have, as I know it will help me to turn this negative thinking around.
Thank you God for the health I do have, as I know there are plenty of others who are considerably unhealthier in life.
Thank you God for my loving partner, as I know of numerous people who are single and long to be in a loving committed relationship.
Thank you God for the bountiful food, water, and shelter I have, as I know too many in this world are starving, dying of thirst, and homeless.
Thank you God for my recovery from a life of addictions, as I know there are far too many still out there slowly dying from this disease.
Thank You God for my spiritual teacher, as I know I wouldn’t be as far along on my spiritual path without her.
Thank You God for my ability to read and write, as I know that illiteracy is really a serious problem in our world.
Thank You God for my gift to spread hope and spiritually motivate others, as I know so many are in need of a lot more of that in life these days.
Thank You God for the loving relationship I have now with my sister, as I know there was a time when she wasn’t able to even tolerate my presence.
Thank You God for the unconditional love I have for myself today, as I know there are profuse amounts of people on this planet who live with so much self-hatred.
Thank You God the people who consider me their friend today, as I know there was a time when there were none.
And one more for good measure…
Thank You God for all the guidance and direction You continue to send me, as I know without out I probably wouldn’t be doing positive things for myself like writing this entry… J
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
This is always a good topic for me. I can remember early in the recovery journey just HATING gratitude meetings – because I thought I had nothing to be grateful for. People were having the backward-country-song conversations – the wife came back, the car came back, the license came back, the job came back – and I was getting none of it at that point. At one point, my first sponsor said to me, “Well, you can be grateful you’ve got two good legs!” I remember almost shouting back, “I had two damn good legs when I was DRINKING!” And he smiled (former Army drill sergeant that he was) and said, “Well, if you start drinking again, I’ll surely break both of ’em!”
I have several ongoing, chronic health issues – back problems, diabetes, sleep apnea – and the effects of any two of which can contribute to my being up at 4 AM on any given day, like today. But I have lots of people who keep me grateful. One fellow I attend meetings with was blown through his living room window onto his front lawn by the Joplin tornado of 2011, which then picked up his front porch and dropped it on him. He lay in the wreckage for six hours before he was discovered, and ended up with multiple bone breaks and pneumonia which hospitalized him for a month. One fellow got his 1 year coin and his terminal cancer diagnosis the same week – and died sober two weeks before his 18-month mark. I have a friend whose rare brain-pressure condition took his vision from 20-80 to 20-400 (legally blind) in six months. He can’t drive, and is now completely disabled – with 3 kids under the age of 15.
It’s pretty hard to whine about what’s going on in my life with that crowd around.
There’s an old Hassidic folk tale called “The Sorrow Tree.”: The way I first heard it (which is different than the way it is often told), a Jewish couple came to their rabbi, consumed with sorrow that they could not conceive a child. The rabbi listened courteously to their sorrow and shame at not being able to have children. He led them into his back yard, where stood an immense, old tree with thousands of small pieces of wood tied to it with twine. The rabbi told the couple that this was the Sorrow Tree. They were to write their sorrow on a piece of wood, and climb up into the tree. They could choose to hang their sorrow on the Sorrow Tree, and God would relieve their pain. But they first had to choose any sorrow they wished from among those hanging there, and accept that sorrow in its place. They circled and circled the tree, looking for the very sorrow that would be exactly fitting and bearable, the one sorrow that would fulfill them. The couple spent the rest of the day, reading every piece of wood hung on the tree, all the sorrows of their community and the surrounding land. But after much searching, as the sun went down, they climbed down from the tree, picked up the piece of wood containing their own sorrow, and gladly took it back home with them.
That’s been my experience, too.
I absolutely love the analogy with the Sorrow Tree… It reminds me of the carrying the cross into a room and switching crosses story I once heard… quite similar and quite good! Thanks for sharing yours…