The Joy of Being Swaddled in Gratitude
- Admin
- Sep 21
- 2 min read
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly;
Collect for the Sunday closest to September 21
In an interview for On Being by Krista Tippett, Br. David Steindl-Rast explains how he came to the discovery that living with Gratitude for and in every moment is a source of ultimate joy. He says,
"what we experience when we are grateful is that something lifts up our heart, that joy that is Gratitude. And that joy is prayer, because it lifts up our heart, whatever lifts up our heart is prayer. And we are made for that."
Br. David credits his mother for introducing him to this notion by swaddling him as a child. "My mother always said, when I was a little baby, and I wasn’t very tightly wrapped, as they used to wrap the babies, I would yell. And only when I was I very tightly wrapped did I feel comfortable." and he likens that same discomfort to not being swaddled in Gratitude. However, he says, “Can you be grateful for everything?” — no, not for everything, but in every moment."
Joy is the happiness that does not depend on what happens. Fear is the worry about what might happen and the greatest source of anxiety. And so we can conclude that in order not to be anxious about earthly things, as our collect for today suggests, we might swaddle ourselves in Gratitude for every moment, marking carefully every moment that lifts up our hearts, dissipating the fear that leads to anxiety.
If you have time, you might listen to this remarkable interview, pondering how you can swaddle yourself in Gratitude and be free of fear and its by product anxiety. As Paul said to the Thessalonians, "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
(As Mikey said in the Life cereal commercial many years ago, "Try it, you'll like it!")
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