"Say Thank You....until you mean it."

I just love Melody Beattie. One of these days, I'm going to meet her and it's gonna be sweet! I cracked open my well worn copy of her Daily Devotional classic, The Language of Letting Go, on August 1st this week, only to find she would begin August with thoughts on gratitude. She's so amazing...her words so simple, yet so profound. She wrote, "Say Thank You...until you mean it!" I knew instantly what she meant by that. It takes me three "auto-pilot" voicings of that phrase until I soften into one that connects to my heart. Why IS that? Who cares? It just IS...and nowadays I don't have to beat myself up because it takes three times to finally connect with a thought that important. All that matters is that I GET there. Halleluiah! Thank You. I figured out a few years back when I read about her burying her only son that she had a LOT to teach me; about letting go...about "wearing life like a loose garment" as we often say around the meeting rooms...and on that day this week, about gratitude. And now when I read her stuff, it carries SO much more weight with me...after learning what she's been through in this Life...what she's LIVED through...what she's let go of. She has such seasoning...such insight...such character...and only because she has trudged the road...and paid attention...and made conscious choices to be taught...to learn to love...and to let go - many of the same things that have made my life so rich today as well. I was fortunate to get to chair a meeting at noon on Wednesday. There must've been seventy-five people there...not because of me, of course, but because my current "home group" is in a powerfully synergistic groove that attracts a lot of us to be together over lunch during the week...and I'm going to speculate is because we all need that midweek shot in the arm...that quick tuneup...that emotional adjustment that sets us right again. At least I do. Wednesdays are truly "humpday" for me and I can often feel that energy shift - once I've reached a point in the course of my Wednesday that I've made it to the downhill side - that realization carries me through the rest of the week and into my weekend, which I especially love. Cool how that works. I'm lucky to belong to a fellowship of men and women whose experience, strength, and hope really do nurture me...give me what I need in those moments. There's something so cool about chairing, because I get to see everybody's eyeballs...as they key in on me while they unwind their stories of challenge and letting go. Selfishly, it's my favorite chair in the room....especially on those days when I strongly feel the need for that adjustment. It just proves to me again that I can walk in rather "empty" spiritually, and walk out a new man. Oh, and one more word from Melody from that day's writing: she said, "Gratitude can make a simple meal into a feast!" I'd love to quote you the whole piece from that day, but I'll let you go look it up. You need that book. It has walked me through some excruciating, exhilarating moments in this life...some years ago and some just last week. Gratitude. That was the topic that day...and by the time I'd heard ten or twelve stories of God's Providence and Love from my brothers and sisters in that room, I had been set right...again. How many other things in Life can you say THAT about?