Thankful for gratitude

I read this fabulous post this morning when I really should have been getting ready for work. I pulled up a blank entry and thought of the question "what inspires your gratitude?" I jotted down the first three things that came to my mind and clicked "save now" before heading out the door.

Faith

Hope

Love

What sustains and nourishes my soul?

Uh. Yeah. Faith. Hope. Love.

I have faith. Faith in myself, faith in us. Faith in providence and serendipity and karma. I have faith in my kids even though they don't yet understand that. I don't have the faith that so many understand it as. I don't go to church or pray to God or read a book. I feel it in my soul. I feel it around me. I feel it in my gut and in my heart when times get tough that we'll get through, that we are strong enough, that everything is going to work out.

I hope. I hope for better days. I hope for peaceful, quiet nights. I hope that good things are coming and that I'll know the right door when I see it. Some days I hope that there really is enough gas to get the car all the way home without incident. Some days, when things are bad, I put in my earphones, I tune out a little bit, and I climb into my hope and hang out. I have faith that if I hope long enough and hard enough – and follow through with that much work – then my hope will become my "is".

Love. Who can survive without love? Faith and hope and love are all three colors of a tapestry. Woven together, individual, but vital to the whole. Love is a part of faith and hope, just as faith and hope are a part of love.

I am deeply grateful for all three. And for the reminder.