W-195.1. Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn for those who look upon the world amiss. The most that they can do is see themselves as better off than others. And they try to be content because another seems to suffer more than they. How pitiful and deprecating are such thoughts! For who has cause for thanks while others have less cause? And who could suffer less because he sees another suffer more? Your gratitude is due to Him alone Who made all cause of sorrow disappear throughout the world.
{{{ rell: Holy Spirit was so gracious in allowing me to learn that I can be no better off than others. Or that another is suffering more than I am…Now if I can get by with thinking this then I can be grateful that I am so much better off than they…Or that they can suffer more than I can. It is very hard to learn that these are merely judgment calls that I decided to make to make me feel better…(when my self-esteem was so low.) Oh, how little I must think of myself to want to feel better because I am not suffering as much as I’ve decided that they are. Or, what is there in my 2nd guessing judgmental abilities to actually know how much or how little another has, and just what am I referring to, money, clothes, cars, or, property? Or am I judging their emotional or spiritual levels of consciousness? And how do I know that? What if I left out some very important factor in all this equation?
Yes, I am most GRATEFUL to Holy Spirit for encouraging me to understand this dynamic...to the level that I do...as of today.
Yes...Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn, unless one is privileged to set amongst those teachers at the 12-Step tables...}}}
and I have...rell
Posted on Dec 13, 2005, 2:06 PM from IP address 71.14.86.77