Reading:

Read the following passages through twice or three times, and listen for any word or phrase that seems to be inviting you to linger with it.

Reading 1: Philippians 4:5-7

Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Reading 2: Psalm 107 extracts

(From Psalms for Praying by Nan C. Merrill)

We give thanks to You, who are the Source of Love.

Come, awaken our hearts that we might do your Work;

For, without You, we can do nothing;

It is your Love that loves through us.

Let all who are hungry and thirsty, whose souls are faint within them,

Cry out to the Most Merciful to tend to them, to nourish them with healing love;

For fear cannot live where love and gentleness abide.

Enter into the Great Silence,

where you may hear the voice of the Beloved,

Who satisfies the hungry soul,

and quenches the thirsty with streams of Living Water.

Yes, attune yourselves to the small still voice within,

stay true to your heart's Center.

Remember always to offer grateful hearts

in thanksgiving to the One who lives among us!

O, that you might learn to see, hear and think with your heart.

Only the humble will call to the Spirit to help them in times of distress.

Enter the Holy Temple of your heart,

and learn to still the tumult of the mind;

For, to be serene even in the midst of chaos,

is to know the efficacy of calmness.

Peace dwells in the heart of silence,

Compassion and mercy abide there, as well.

Let your heart be clear and simple,

and your soul filled with Light;

Enter the place of gentleness,

the heart-space of the Beloved,

the embodiment of Love.

For further reflection:

Below are the quotes from the talk for further reflection on this theme.

Christa Tippett describes gratitude as "a full-blooded, reality-based practice and choice."

Br David Standl Rast describes gratitude as "not a reaction to the present moment, because that would be something automatic, but a chosen response."

Joe Primo: "When we create conditions for being grateful we limit our joy."

Br. David-Steindl Rast: “We cannot be grateful for all that a given moment brings us; yet, in any given moment, we can be grateful for something. The gift within the gift of any given moment is opportunity.” ... “Can you be grateful for everything? — no, not for everything, but in every moment."

Henri Nouwen: "The choice for gratitude rarely comes without some real effort; but each time I make it the next choice is a little easier, a little freer, a little less self-conscious."

Rabbi Rami Shapiro: "The more clearly you realize your lack of control, the more powerless you discover yourself to be... [and] the more natural it is for you to be surrendered to God. The more surrendered to God you become, the less you struggle against the natural flow of life. The less you struggle against the flow of life, the freer you become. Radical powerlessness is radical freedom, liberating you from the need to control the ocean of life and freeing you to learn how best to navigate it."

Richard Rohr: "In our time we have to find a way to disestablish ourselves, to identify with our powerlessness instead of our power, our dependence instead of our independence, and our communion instead of our individualism."