Italy
Many times it happens that we spend days focusing our gaze on what we lack, chasing who knows what answers or extraordinary gestures that struggle to arrive. By doing so, however, we run the even greater risk of becoming blind and deaf to the great amount of good that already surrounds us.
True love, in fact, rarely makes noise; rather, it prefers to clothe itself in everyday life, patience, and simplicity. Thus it hides in unexpected thoughtfulness, in a sincere smile encountered on the street, or in the time someone decides to give us without asking for anything in return, as in the sharing silence of someone who simply knows how to be there.
Recognising the love we receive requires an act of profound humility and the willingness to open the eyes of the heart. It also means ceasing to take everything for granted, beginning to see the presence of others as an unmerited gift.
When we begin to glimpse these small sparks of light in our days, something within us changes radically; gratitude takes the place of anxiety and constant demanding, and the feeling of loneliness dissolves, making room for full joy and unexpected peace.
And giving thanks for the good received also becomes the first and fundamental step towards becoming capable of loving with the same generosity ourselves, continually living with gratitude in our hearts not only towards God, always generous in His gifts, but towards everyone.
To such an extent that “thank you”, rather than something to say and experience, becomes a true vital experience within us and, increasingly, our very being.
And so, rather than merely saying thank you for the love we receive, we discover ourselves to be living gratitude, so that more than saying thank you, it becomes almost natural to say not only to God, but to everyone with our lives: «I AM GRATITUDE!»
Image created digitally by spazio + spadoni
