habits of gratitude
Breathe. It’s how life works. It’s the way beauty is always born —
Breathe in: Lord, I receive what you give.
Breathe out: Lord, I give thanks for what you give.
You don’t get to demand your life, like a given. You get to receive your life, like a gift.
You don’t get to make up your story; you get to make peace with it.
This is how you labor through a life, how you make it grace
– Ann Voskamp
A Holy Experience
http://www.aholyexperience.com
It seems,
as we age,
we become more of what we practice living.
when dementia or Alzheimer’s begin,
we lose our ability to remember.
important pieces fall out of our knowing,
and we become our habits
I have been told, the skills that last the longest
are those habits we have learned so well
we don’t think about doing them,
they are a part of us instinctively:
folding laundry,
washing dishes,
walking.
these are the last things that we forget.
our attitudes reflect who we have been.
I have been caregiving someone with advanced dementia.
it is difficult to watch. 
it is painful to experience.
I seek to understand my own living better by witnessing this.
I am learning much.
Recently I have been reminded of something extremely important:
We become what we practice.
gratitude is a practice.
a practice I want to develop,
so that if I ever forget other things,
gratitude will be incorporated,
so fully into my living,
that it is part of my dna.
that it is my most ingrained habit.
I want to wrap my living so deeply in gratitude right now,
that if I lose everything else,
if I forget my own name,
I will still not forget my riches.
I will still be aware of my great blessings,
I will still remember to say,
‘thank you’.
if I forget words,
I will still breathe
gratitude.
if I forget how to walk,
my eyes will still
carry the light
of grace.
Nothing is worth more than this day, because
it is the day I have been given to practice,
to acknowledge all the blessings,
this is the gift I have been given,
this one precious life.
AL 7/26/13
life: acoustic & amplified 