Sometimes things can get to be a bit too much, too many things going on that demand a great deal of time and/or emotional energy. I wonder sometimes if I don’t trip a circuit or something with all the energy surging through in a very short period of time. It’s a good time to be having a short week at work: I am looking forward to a few days in which to exhale and relax a little bit. A few years ago I went through one of the more challenging periods of my life. I can remember being hurt, frightened, angry, confused, myriad emotions triggered by the “series of unfortunate events” that all seemed to befall me at the same time. But as difficult as it was to go through those difficulties, I had a number of constant companions with me–literal as well as figurative.
In addition to pain, anxiety, and fear, I was also joined by resilience, perseverance, gratitude, and hope. Even through the most difficult days and darkest emotional times, I still managed to smile and laugh (sometimes on purpose) and availed myself of any number of methods to keep myself buoyed through the days and nights of uncertainty and challenge. I also had literal companions: my siblings, who carried me with their love and support, my friends Mary and Roland who were constant and steady, standing with me, ensuring that I never felt hopeless and alone.
Now as I watch the sibling of a dear friend of mine loses his home and has to move into temporary quarters in a hotel. I watch somewhat helplessly as two people whom I love wrench apart from one another leaving a deep chasm between for which their is no bridge to reconnect them. Another friend struggles to find her footing in a treacherous workplace in which her good work goes unremarked upon and unrewarded and her confidence and sense of purpose are undermined by the antics of unethical, ego-driven managers. And I too continue to struggle with a variety of speed bumps that keep my emotional life a little bumpy. They are nothing at all to compare with the dramas and traumas I see some friends and loved ones facing, and nothing like what I dealt with in my own life back in 2011, and yet they are of enough concern that they keep me in earnest prayer throughout the days and week as they unfold.
This is when gratitude and having a gratitude practice become life giving and sustaining. I am so grateful to have discovered that during difficult times because it lights the way for me through all kinds of times, sunny and bright as well as dark and stormy. The theologian Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” Thank you has been my prayer throughout most of my life and continues to be, and that has indeed been enough.
