“Why should I be grateful for anything?”
Says the misguided soul, “How does it help me?
“It seems like a nice gesture, but nothing more
“It surely can’t hurt me if I don’t have it”
This man never felt the need to show gratitude
He felt the world owed him for what it had withheld
But when he became bitter, his life unfulfilled
He wanted to change, but didn’t know how
He picked up a book one day out of the trash
He knew not why, but felt compelled to read
A new feeling, a new light entered his heart
His life now infused with a joy he never knew
All from this book and the ideas it conveyed
His friends and family were amazed at the change
And they implored him to share what he had learned
This is the message he related that day:
We are all receptors with great capacity
To receive all blessings for our benefit—
Knowledge, revelation, light, and experience
For our personal growth, to show us the path
Parents, teachers, counselors, coaches, and friends
Who provide support, love, guidance, and strength
Our bodies a physical tabernacle
Food and nourishment so we can survive
Money, time, and physical resources
Which are tools to help us on the journey
All of creation for our enjoyment
All of our talents to assist even more
The key to receiving all of these blessings
Lies in the receptors if they are willing
The receptors are powerful magnets
Easily attracting all things for our needs
But when they are closed, all blessings are repelled
Our bodies, souls, and minds shut down, starved to death
Deprived of basic needs, our lives shrivel up
Bitterness, anger, and depression result
The blessings are like an ever-flowing river
Continually coming to us in abundance
This is its natural state, with us as its end goal
The receptors being the gateway to entrance
During times like this, when great dams we’ve built
Blocking and repelling the flow to us
It becomes more difficult to break these walls down
And open up the soul once more to its blessings
Herein lies the miracle of gratitude
When we can’t find how to open the floodgates
Letting the flow return to its natural state
When everything we try just doesn’t work
When our faith and hope seem to be lost to us
Gratitude then serves its fundamental purpose
To open up our hearts and minds once again
To remind us of what we’ve received before
To open the floodgates of blessings flowing down
To help us remember what we knew in the past
To return us to our former state of glory
To tear down those walls that repelled those blessings
It’s the first step towards finding our faith and hope
Towards receiving more knowledge and resources
To empower us to fulfill the dreams we have
To fill our hearts with love and the power to choose
It’s not merely a nice gesture to others
But instead a critical key for ourselves
That turns our hearts in the right direction
Returning to us our power to receive
–Jason Westlake
Sat., November 25, 2006
