The Focus of Gratitude

 Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is by dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.    The prayer of St. Francis 

This prayer perfectly puts into words the way I see the focus of gratitude. What I appreciate, I am more able to desire for others. If I’m only focused on myself, my needs, my wants, my perceptions and how they only affect me, then I’m missing the point of Love. I’m probably missing opportunities to be a channel of the Divine. That is most definitely not my desire.

Any focus on myself has to be to acknowledge my kinship with others, and how whatever I do and say enhances or diminishes those with whom I interact. That way, the actions I take, the words I say, my very thoughts raise the collective vibration. That’s really something! That’s what one person can do. Just imagine the chorus we can be together!

I am an instrument. May my song be one of peace and comfort.