Today's theme was Gratitude. And as some of our regular contributors were away this weekend, we were very grateful to our guest Daniel for leading us in some songs.
We began with a poem on the theme of gratitude, "I Thank Thee" by Monica Miller. Then I spoke of the theme of gratitude in the Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions, and read a short piece by Robert Frager (which can be found on the website Spirituality and Practice). Then we sang:
For sun and rain,
For grass and grain,
For all who toil on sea and soil
That we may eat our daily food
To you our love and thanks we give.
Daniel led us in a song "Hakuna mungu kama wewe / There is no one like Jesus". Then Peter read his poem:
Gratitude
I pray that I may be grateful
For all the things I take for granted.
No; I say that I am already grateful
For everything in my life.
For the four damp walls of this old house,
For my imperfect partner who abides with my imperfection,
For that ten pound note in my wallet,
For the gift of air.
I am even grateful for my ingratitude;
Discontentedness makes me start new things.
I wrap ingratitude, grumpiness,
And the whole world in a cloth of light,
And wrap my grateful aching arms
Around that mixed lumpy bundle
Of trouble and delight.
Eve led us in an activity. We thought of something we felt grateful for (we were encouraged to think of something individual to us), then went around the circle speaking what we had written, with everyone joining in after each: "And all our hearts expand with yours, in gratitude we come together".
For the mysterious magic of each awakening and the days passing into night.
I feel grateful for all that I have in my life that has helped me to cope with my life, especially the kind, loving support of people and animals, especially after my mother has died, to help me to feel less alone.
I am grateful for the breath the Lord gives me to live day by day, minute and second.
I am grateful for the lessons of love I have learnt from friends.
I am feeling grateful for the people who came into my life who enabled me to grow into wisdom and understanding.
Gratitude for the flowering cow parsley and hawthorn along the lanes whilst out walking with friends.
I feel so grateful for the immense beauty, joy and expansion of my heart when I remember to stop from busyness and to breathe and sink into being.
I am grateful for young children who want to come and play.
I am grateful for time, space and energy to create a beautiful living environment that feels right for me.
I feel grateful for beauty in nature, music and song, and for joy in Dance - and for the difficulties too.
I am thankful for the rising of the sun every morning, when the sky gets brighter and the warmth comes back again.
I am grateful for my wife and daughters who are teaching me how to love.
Then we danced to "From you I receive, to you I give, together we share, by this we live". We then had some space to share our thoughts; Harsha shared with us a saying she had heard, "Life is God's gift to you; what you do with it is your gift to God". Daniel led us in singing again, then we gathered around the centre and I read a story about the Jewish violinist Perlman (you can read it on the website Jewish Pathways). Finally we sang "This little heart of mine".
The next meeting will be June 12th.
