Monday, November 19, 2007

GRATITUDE vs. EXPECTATIONS


Expections get in our way of acknowledging
What we have…now, and being grateful
They make us greedy, never satisfied
We always want more and more and yet more
We want everything and then some…I doubt
We’d really be satisfied if we had it all, wondering if
There wasn’t something else missing.

Friends who could have given more to us
Spouses who though loving weren’t our soul mates
Children who didn’t take our counsel and rebelled
Career opportunities awaiting us around the next corner
To be more, do more, be appreciated for our “uniqueness”
Things missing, emptiness in the now moment but
Possible in the future….sometime…somewhere.

Always living on the brink of seemingly lost opportunities
That could have been, never seeing what is
Idealized family relationships that never could be are
Mourned over while small moments of joy pass by unnoticed
The simple request of a young child or grand child
To read just one more book are met with irritation

Illnesses and death will slow us down or stop the process
As we focus on recovery or long for
The normal everydays that we took so for granted
The secret of happiness is just this:
To fill our heart with gratitude
And empty our mind of expectations.

Is the glass half full or half empty, depends on your ATTITUDE

1 comment:

  1. expectations. Hmmmm. I wonder about that. In lessons I've given this year we've often talked about HOPE. And hope is just that expecting the promise to be fulfilled. Not just wishing it might be.
    At least that's what I've been teaching and believing.

    But to expect something just because you are alive...nah!

    ReplyDelete