Am I Grateful?

Thought for today:

Father Martin, a very public advocate of the Twelve Steps, once said that “Gratitude is the one coin with which you can buy God.” How could he say that?

His talks described how gratitude heals. Gratitude helps our recovery grow.

If we are grateful, we have no capacity for hatred. We set aside old wounds, not in denial, but in transcendence. We lose that sense of lack, and appreciate what we have.

A member shares:

“Despair was a familiar feeling in me for as far back as I remember. By the time I found DA, and read The Twelve Steps, I knew I had to change, and that I had found a formula for living. From then on, I tried to take the Steps into my daily life.

“After a while I felt like I was losing my old self, but I didn’t know what was going to replace it. My old behaviors – staying oblivious to where my money was going, isolating, compulsively debting – didn’t work any more. I was getting clear on my money, and yet I felt an emptiness in my soul.

“Working The Steps, I learned more about myself than I ever wanted to know. Consumed with fear, and I often acted out in anger. This awareness was humbling, and was the turning point. Humility led me to appreciate how far I had come.”

Gratitude In Action:

How gratitude works is a mystery, but that it works is a fact. An attitude of thankfulness brings us closer to a spiritual awakening, which is the point of The Twelve Steps.

The best test of whether we are grateful is to consider our willingness to give of ourselves. If we can help another struggling debtor find their way to solvency, then that is a sure sign we are grateful. This is “gratitude in action“, and we are on the way to the by-products of long-term solvency, and serenity.