gratitude for the unseen...
(Note: Rev. Tom is traveling for a few days.
His next Sunday Message will be posted on October 1st.)
Gratitude is a cornerstone of the Vision philosophy.
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Now you see it... |
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This week, we began the process of installing sheet rock in
my home and the Light in the Woods Chapel. As I watch the walls and
ceilings get covered, it occurs to me how many daily living conveniences are
hidden in our modern homes.
And how easily they are taken for granted.
Touch a switch and a light comes on. Turn a faucet
and water flows (hot, warm, cold, take your pick) and when you are finished with
the water, it is then efficiently discarded. Push a button, and warm - or
cool - air fills the rooms. It's like magic. But it isn't.
Inside the walls of our homes there is science and natural law and ingenuity and
careful planning and intricate systems that contribute much ease and comfort and
safety to our lives. And most of it is unseen.
Out of sight, out of mind. Often, an accurate
cliché.
Mindfulness is essential to the practice of gratitude.
And so I encourage you to renew your mindfulness of the many unseen
things that improve your life. You can start in your own home. When
you turn on a light, think about the wonder of electricity and how it is
delivered to the tips of your fingers. When you take a warm shower or wash
your hands or do the laundry or fill a pot of water for cooking, reflect on the
magnificence of the flowing water delivered quickly to you - at the exact
temperature you prefer.
Consider. Just a century or two ago, even royalty did
not have access to the luxuries that we have in our modern homes. To Kings
and Queens it would be astounding...miraculous, even. To us, it is
mundane.
It is good to be grateful for the visible and
obvious. It is great to give thanks for the ordinary. It is
enlightened to appreciate that which is unseen.
Think about that the next time you light up a dark room
with the touch of your finger and quench your thirst with a turn of your hand.
-Rev. Tom
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Gratitude |
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When you drink from the stream, remember the source... -Chinese
Proverb |
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