Gratitude List

Grateful:  Warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; showing or expressing thanks, especially to another person.  (Ed. Note: I've looked this word up so many times.  I find that I'm usually disappointed in the oomph behind the meaning.  Don't get me wrong - it's a good meaning, it's just not very dramatic.  Thankful.  Appreciative.  Ho Hum.)

Gratitude: The state of being grateful.  (Ed. Note: Hmm.  Makes sense.  Also not dramatic. Very functional and utilitarian.)

Grace:  The free and unmerited favor of God.  (Ed. Note: OK, this is getting too subjective for me, a being who has attained some kind of minor god-status.  I'm going to look elsewhere to see if another definition fits my preconceived notion of grace.)

Grace:  The influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.  (I knew if I hung in there I could find a definition more to my own liking.)

Now we get to the point of all of this word research: Digging into the concept behind the Gratitude List.  I'm a big fan of the idea that it should be an ever-changing thing, growing and metamorphosing with a will of its own.  I have a stock Gratitude List that I dutifully review each morning in my Quiet Time, a list with all of the big things I'm grateful for.  What I've slacked on over the years is the serendipitous Gratitude List.  Each day I find that I'm moved by a number of transient little things and I believe that I would be well-served to note these in a little notebook.  A flower, a bird, a piece of music, something someone says in passing.

For instance, there's a dude at my morning meeting who is in the two to three year range and he has that oh-so-satisfying alcoholic glow that boils off of someone who is working hard and getting it, getting a real sense of what it means to be a spiritual being.  We get along well and I believe he looks up to me as an Elder Statesman but we're running in different circles, we have different interests,  so I don't see a close personal relationship evolving, but that's OK.  I'm making sure that I tell him how I feel often.  I'm grateful for his presence in my life.  Not continuously and not every day, but his face on our Zoom meetings brightens my day.