~ Hakarat Hatov ~

Now, I'm not Jewish. But I respect Jewish traditions. After spending time in Israel this past March, my interest has been piqued in really seeing Jesus as a Jewish man and understanding the cultural traditions. I ran across this article, passed on to me by a friend, and I thought it is worth passing on to you. It's about Hakarat Hatov which literally means "recognizing the good" in our everyday life and being thankful for it. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...

Gratitude is a function not of how much we have, but rather of how much we have relative to how much we feel we deserve. The opposite of gratitude is a feeling of entitlement. The attitude of "I deserve it" turns every gift into a paycheck.

RECOGNIZING GOOD
The Hebrew term for gratitude is "hakarat hatov," which literally means, "recognizing the good." The secret embedded in the Hebrew is that gratitude depends not on getting something good, but on recognizing the good that is already yours.

Thus, gratitude is totally a feat of consciousness. It requires a "back to basics" mentality, becoming cognizant of all the rudimentary things we usually take for granted. No matter how much we lack, no matter what difficult times we are passing through, every one of us can find a myriad of things to be grateful for.

If you've lost money in the stock market, but you still have your children, you can be grateful.
If you've lost your job, but you still have your health, you can be grateful.
If you can't move your legs, but you can move your arms, you can be grateful.

THE OBJECT OF GRATITUDE
In addition to recognizing the good and experiencing what you have as a gift not a paycheck, gratitude requires one more ingredient. There is a fallacy which prevents many people from experiencing true thankfulness. Some think that thankfulness, like love, is a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, the way you feel when you've downed the second dessert of your Thanksgiving dinner. That good feeling, however, is not thankfulness, but satiation. It becomes thankfulness only when you realize that Aunt Rose toiled to make that apple pie, and you direct your appreciation to her.

Both thankfulness and love must have an object. True gratitude implies that I am grateful to the giver of what I have received. Gratitude without an object is like one hand clapping.

From a Torah perspective, all human beings are creatures. Life - and every part of it from the tiny hairs inside our noses to our thousands of enzymes - is a gift from our Creator. We are entitled to nothing. We are grateful to God for everything.

A RECIPE FOR GRATITUDE
Here, then, are the 4 steps to gratitude:
Recognize the good that you possess.
Acknowledge that it is a gift, not something you deserve.
Identify the source of the gift, whether God or a human being.
Express your thanks.

The Pilgrims of the first Thanksgiving obviously traversed these four steps. They were grateful not for their high standard of living, but simply that they had survived their first winter in the New World. Deeply religious people, they felt gratitude to God. The first Thanksgiving feast was their way of expressing that gratitude to God.

According to Judaism, gratitude is the basis of everything: faith, joy, awe, and love of God. Only when we recognize how much God has given us and how little we deserve it, can we come to a place of faith and love.

Little wonder that a Jew is supposed to start every day with an expression of thankfulness for life itself, the recitation of the modeh ani. If you want to incorporate this small exercise into your life, here is how to do it:

Upon first waking up, as soon as you've turned off your alarm, while you're still lying in bed, say these words: "Modeh ani lefanecha Melech chai v'kayom, shehechezarta bee neshmati b'chemla, rabba emunasecha." In English, it's: "Thankful am I before You, living and eternal King, that You have returned my soul within me with compassion, abundant is Your faithfulness."

You'll notice that this single sentence incorporates all the ingredients of gratitude. It expresses thanks for the most elemental gift of all, life itself, to the divine source of life. There is no better way to start one's day. ~ Article by Sara Yocheved Rigler , of www.aish.com.

May your day be filled with a deep gratitude for all that God has given you, starting with His amazing and never failing love. May your mind race with images of all the people and reasons you have to be grateful in this very moment. Close your eyes and allow these images to surface in your heart. Thank God for each of them. Now move into your day with an attitude of much gratitude, sending little "thank you" prayers heavenward as you come across the "gifts" given to you.

Peace & grace be with you today ~ deAnn

Summer Shadows

Summertime is slowly drifting away. The shadows are growing longer. Schools begin week after next. Soon, we'll have little colorful gourdes on the vine in our backyard. Autumn is only a moment away. And I'm excited to see it again!

The summer months were very busy for me and my family. I had big dreams of getting a lot of things done and organized, books read and writing written. That didn't happen. Expectations not met. Summer is not my season.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I grew up in Northern California, not far from the Oregon border, where giant pine and redwood trees rule the landscape. They are beautiful, but the vibrant fall color splashed on the Pennsylvania hillsides takes my breath away! Ahhhh, the smokey scent from a distant chimney filling the cool air causes me to think about pumpkins - bright orange and lovely. I feel revived in the crisp air that surrounds autumn. I need that right now.

I look forward to the first day of school, as it ushers in a new season of life. Even with the busyness of school activities, there is a certain comfort with the routine. In a strange way, it's a time of slowing down. Preparing for winter's hibernation effect. Football games under the big lights and a full moon, my buns frozen to the aluminum bleachers and the smell of hot cocoa steaming from an insulated Thermos - warming my hands.

Creativity is beginning to brew deep within me, I can feel it...like a dull ache. Getting back in to a routine will certainly be good. I need to write. I need to design jewelry. The artist within is tired of summer hibernation and is ready to emerge fully!

Yes, as the perennials in my garden take the approaching season to rest and eventually fade away, I too will rest but, I will also blossom with a fresh newness - coming more alive than I have been all year long. Autumn. It's glorious...

The Cautious Writer

If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never write anything that can be read. If you want to help other people, you have to make up your mind to write things that some men will condemn. ~ Thomas Merton, excerpt from New Seeds of Contemplation