Dr. Thomas Maples

Inspirational Quote

To Be Grateful

What would the world look like if we all just showed a little gratitude? What difference could this one shift in consciousness create?

I have always been a highly spiritual man. However, my introduction to religion was purely secular. I had no compass from which to grasp onto the concept of God. For me, God’s image was present but not actively understood religiously. The absence of ultimate truth happened because of the goodwill of my mother. She believed that matters of spirituality are a personal choice. Not that this was right or wrong, for it was my journey, and I think I turned out well. Yet the trip had many twists and turns.

An evident absence of morals was present in my spiritual development. Because of choice, I became more assertive in my convictions but lacked rules to govern their presence in my life. This form of spiritual growth is anything but linear. As I soon learned, where there is a void, something will move in to fill its emptiness, but to what end?

I lacked spirit. Even more detrimental, I lacked hope and faith, those elements that form the foundation of any dream undertaken. I compartmentalized issues of ultimate truth and objective reality separately. I indoctrinated myself into tenets of philosophical discourse and scientific reasoning. Yet, this form of reasoning did little to offer a secure presence of being grounded in universal truth. I lacked understanding, or even worse, I found myself in a place devoid of love.

Many want proof that God exists. For them, I would turn their attention to the reciprocal nature of a life a simple leaf offers us. Its air is the carbon we breathe. In exchange for its life giving substance, it breathes into us the life-giving force of oxygen we need to survive. Any more, or any less, the balance would be disturbed, and what consequence would that have for life we know, yet take for granted. A miracle found in the cellular consciousness of a leaf trying to survive. What makes us any different?

As William Arthur Ward reminds us, miracles abound. Through gratitude, all days are Thanksgiving. But it is up to you to see a miracle’s presence in our life. The world, the universe, not even God, will give you that; it is up to you to see what was always there in the first place. Have you counted your blessings today?

Namaste, my friends. May prayers and blessings find you along your path to believe, achieve, and advance confidently in the direction of your dreams.

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