On Being Grateful

The wisdom of the learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure; and he that hath little business shall become wise.  Ecclesiastes 38:24

As a friend of mine wrote: “Isn’t it terrible how you can be fine one minute and brought low the next!”  In my case, the being “fine” was going about a morning’s work at home, twirling from one task to another, and the “brought low” was catching my rubber-soled shoes in the carpet and falling like a tree—hard and straight—across the footboard of the bed.  One trip to the emergency room for X-rays, two strong medicines, and reaction to those medicines later, I was 911’d to the hospital where I stayed for three days. That provided time to meditate on the unexpectedness of human life. It was also time to count one’s blessings.

Listening to the coughing and labored breathing, with the help of a swooshing and engulfing apparatus, of my roommate in the throes of emphysema, I was grateful for clear air passages. Hearing about the woman down the hall in a several weeks’ coma after surgery to remove a brain tumor, I was grateful for a clear head. As my vital signs returned to normal and as my wrenched back improved a bit each day, I was grateful for a “hopefully” temporary rather than permanent disarrangement of my system. Although there are easier ways to gain such wisdom than a trip to the hospital, it will suffice.

Prayer: Perhaps we all need some of Pollyanna in our attitudes; being glad for what’s there rather than pining for what’s not. Thank you for your many gifts to us—of life, of friends, of health sufficient for the day, which we often accept as a matter of course.  May we be aware and grateful.  Amen 

Ruth Ann Lyness (reprinted from Eastridge Devotion book, 2008)