the depth of gratitude
By Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig, shades Magazine
Today – the Saturday before Thanksgiving – I took part in a volunteer appreciation event at my church.
I had a conflicting event that day with a group of women who are near and dear to my heart. However, we had not gathered in several years after the organization had been meeting this time of year for three decades. I contemplated on which would feed my soul more at this time.
My spiritual home won out.
It was like you’d imagine: Seeing people who you don’t get to see in person as much as you did pre-pandemic and the incorporation of virtual services; eating a nice meal; and listening to great music. I knew the other event would have some of the same components, but with only a handful of days until Thanksgiving, I felt the need to be in the midst of giving thanks and gratitude.
As I sat with the other volunteers – about 50 or so in attendance – I listened to how thankful our Sr. Minister and other church leaders were for our collective service to the church. And yeah, it felt nice to hear. However, all I could think about was how grateful I was to be able to be of service to them and what they had given me in return.
Although grateful and thankful are close synonyms that typically are interchangeable, according to Dictionary.com, “grateful also has a much rarer sense, meaning ‘pleasing to the mind or senses.’” For me, not only is gratitude a more encompassing word, it goes to a deeper place within us that is sometimes unexplainable, but always an all knowingness.
Psychology Today says gratitude is “spontaneously generated from within … an affirmation of goodness and warmth.” It also reports that studies show there are specific areas of the brain used when expressing and/or experiencing gratitude.
I am ever so thankful for the women I missed in skipping the other event for having given me a great amount of joy, fun, culture and lifelong friendships. However, the gratitude I have for my spiritual home is a divine relationship that fuels me each and everyday.
There are days I may be sad, yet I still experience joy in my heart.
There are times I’ve wanted to give up, but my connection to a Higher Power fills me with peace; a confidence that instills a sense of hope and faith for what is yet to come.
In learning and understanding this philosophy of gratitude, I learned how to stay in – and return to – the center of myself, which is enveloped by a veil of spiritual appreciation and overflowing with a constant state of devotion for the goodness that is within me.
And as I listened to my Sr. Minister thank me and the others, gratitude swelled inside me and I felt the warmth, peace and love that always comes with it.