Litany of Ordinary Gratitude

For the breath that came without asking, thank You. For water, for bread, for a roof that keeps the rain, thank You. For the body that carries me, even on the days I complain about it, thank You. For the people who stayed: through the dull years, the hard conversations, the versions of me that were difficult to love, thank You. For every forgiveness I did not earn and received anyway, thank You. For work to do and strength to do it, for problems small enough to solve and large enough to grow me, thank You. For beauty I almost missed: light on a wall, birdsong through traffic, the smell of rain, thank You. And for the gifts I will never know to count: the accident that did not happen, the illness that passed us by, the mercy hidden inside what looked like disappointment, thank You. Let gratitude not be a feeling I wait for, but a practice I return to, until my whole life becomes a quiet and continual thanks. Amen.