To the Ever-present Help in times of trouble;
The King Eternal, All-Mighty, Gracious, Kind;
He whose Glory fills the earth to saturation,
Each square inch, phenomena, snippet of time
And space and breath and thought, captivated.

Hearts spill over with gratitude;
Like magnets they come together;
Like multi-coloured threads they entwine in cords – infinite folds;
They rise, spinning, shimmering, to the throne room of Grace;-
To Benevolence seated in Splendour, Unimaginable Beauty,
Pulsating Terrifying Majestic Might, Blinding Light…
Oh holy fright, reverential awe, where is my gratitude?

For each answered prayer, for the processes and the privileges;
The losses, the gains, additions and subtractions, the rare,
The abundant, the beautiful, the disturbing, the discouraging
The reassuring, the pleasant, the bitter, the enticing, the deadly;
The ever present Peace in every circumstance;
The Light that shines on the path, in-spite of the uncertainties;
The Open Door to the Secret Place, the Bridge to the Divine;
The Surreal in the mundane, the Eternal in the ephemeral.

My gratitude is weighted with my words, thoughts, heart, and acts;
Sometimes by my presence, silence, smile, compliance and reliance;
The absence of gratitude weighs me down, tortures my mind,
Afflicts my heart, breeds conflict, and is deadly to my soul.

Well, this is to nurturing gratitude, to wrapping it up reverently,
And tying if off with a bow and sealing it with a kiss;
And to eliciting it in you and I, again, and again, and again.

#Happy_New_Year