Simple Moments Light a Lifetime

Gratitude.

It’s one of those words that gets used more than lived.

We talk about gratitude every November — but practicing it takes a lifetime.

Gratitude gets hooked to the last Thursday in November, even though the holiday we call Thanksgiving is just over a century old.

Somehow, “grace” got lost in the gravy and football games.

Footprints Through History

But gratitude has left its footprints through history.

• Pilgrims in funny hats, learning to survive in a new world.
• Prisoners hear the jail door close behind them as they walk free.
• A woman named Hannah, who longed for a son and finally cradled him in her arms.

Gratitude opens the soul like nothing else.

It beats anxiety back with a stick, lowers blood pressure, and smooths life’s tense wrinkles.”

A Story That Changed Perspective

My son-in-law once worked for a large accounting firm that gave a strange gift — a book that had nothing to do with accounting.

It told the story of Eugene O’Kelly, the firm’s CEO, who at age fifty received a grim diagnosis.

Brain cancer had entered his life to write the final chapter.

In his book Chasing Daylight, O’Kelly compares life to a golfer rushing to finish before the light disappears — “chasing daylight.”

With little time left, he developed an unusual strategy. He would spend his final days saying “thank you.”

He listed all the people who had shaped his life. A few were business associates, but most were friends — and a few, old teachers.

He called each one and asked for a few minutes of their time.

In one hundred days, he met with every person on that list to tell them how they had changed his life. Most wept. All were stunned.

He wanted more than closure. He wanted to open hearts — especially his own.”

In the end, that list of names outshone the corner office, the prestige, and the millions of dollars.

Eugene O’Kelly discovered the quiet magic of gratitude.

The Practice of Noticing

How do you say “thanks”?

The word is simple — but the substance is complicated.

It starts by noticing.

Not by making a superficial list, like you’re inventorying what’s left after a fire, but by paying attention to the people and moments that brush against your life and leave a mark.

Some are people.

I had a high school teacher who taught me how to write something like this (and I beg forgiveness if it doesn’t meet her standard!).

Mentors have challenged me.

I’ve had my Barnabases — those who fanned my spiritual fire when it dimmed.

Some are circumstances.

One of my mottos is, “I’ve learned the best lessons in the worst ways.”

From withering criticism to standing by my parents’ graves, each took my hand and led me down the right path.

Make Room for Gratitude

So what do you notice — about your life, about your day?

Whatever that is, that’s where gratitude makes itself at home. Don’t ignore the moments, for they become your life.

Some events pass in a flash, but some moments linger for a lifetime.

Give thanks.

This November, may gratitude not just visit your heart — may it move in.

(We’ll continue this series on gratitude throughout November.)