If you learn to respond as if it’s the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

Love is saying yes to belonging.

As we learn to give thanks for all of life and death, for all of this given world of ours, we find a deep joy. It is the joy of trust, the joy of faith in the faithfulness at the heart of all things. It is the joy of gratefulness in touch with the fullness of life.

By looking up, by raising our eyes above our limited horizon, we are more likely to perceive the blessings hidden in affliction.

Only gratefulness, in the form of limitless openness for surprise, lays hold of the fullness of life in hope.

There is no closer bond than the one that gratefulness celebrates, the bond between giver and thanksgiver. Everything is a gift. Grateful living is a celebration of the universal give-and-take of life, a limitless yes to belonging. Can our world survive without gratefulness? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: to say an unconditional yes to the mutual belonging of all beings will make this a more joyful world. This is the reason why Yes is my favorite synonym for God.

We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.