Gratitude

Before this day expires I would like to take a few moments to express my gratitude for the many blessing in my life. Where to begin but to say that I am one of the most fortunate people to walk the face of the earth. I live on a tremendous and beautiful planet in an interesting and challenging age. I share the earth with countless and diverse multitudes; I am grateful for them, for our very lives are built upon the things that they provide. I am grateful for my consciousness, and the ability to focus it wisely. I am grateful that there are compassionate and humane alternatives to outmoded and barbaric traditions. I am grateful to have others who share my dietary inclinations, so as to have someone to eat with. I am grateful for always having enough, for the abundance of the universe...a truly tremendous multitude which I am so lucky to partake in. I am grateful for my family-blood relations, human and otherwise-with whom I am so fortunate as to share this moment. I am thankful for kind words, for a light in the darkness and for possibilities. I am thankful especially for my son, the light of my life, and the reason that I dream of, and work for, a better world. I am grateful, for changes both big and small, and that they come at all. I am thankful for the wonderful gifts that have been bestowed upon me in this life, and that I am able to use those gifts to make the lives of others richer as well. I am grateful for the support and sometimes seemingly unfounded, unshakable belief my partner has in me; and for all her hard work and sacrifices. I am grateful for Buddha, and my meditation and the spirit. I am grateful for the sun, the birthplace of life. I am grateful for the water which nourishes that life; the earth from which we are all formed, and the wind that shapes us. I am grateful for the seed, the tree, the sand, the rocks and soil. Were I to live my every last moment in reverence to that which I owe all that I have, I still would not expend all the gratitude I feel. I am thankful for having seen another year. I am grateful for what comes next. My gratitude is without limit; my thanks are boundless: endless, my blessings. Any time I prepare to eat something a say a small prayer of gratitude. Any time I uncook, I am sure to put my gratitude into the food. I thank all the forces and creatures, the many lives in service, that I should be fortunate enough for the apple to come to my table. I say thank you to the vegetables and that which gave them life, and that it should give me life as well. I am thankful for everything, for everything must always be exactly as it is. Everything will always work out; even if its working out is beyond our limited sight. Everything, every moment, is a blessing, for each thing, each second, is an opportunity to live a little bit better than we have lived before, to be a little more conscious than ever, to be a little bit more thankful as we revel in the wonders of this world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Peace and Love