Seeing With the Eyes of a Grateful Heart

Here's a way you can see clearly with the eyes of a grateful heart. Think of your heart as having eyes. Go ahead. Sit down and relax. Close your eyes. In your eye's darkness, picture yourself standing before God and before a person you know. Choose a friend, a family member, a business associate.

Take your hands and form a heart, just as the young women does in the picture. Good. Now raise your heart-shaped hands up to your eyes.

Keeping your eyes closed, picture God standing before you as Jesus, the Holy Spirit as a dove, or as all three. Now picture the friend, family member, or business associate standing there beside the sacred presence you just pictured.

Let your mind ride on your heart as it wonders through your day picturing God as Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or all three, the friend, family member, or business associate. Envision with the eyes of your heart, enlightened by the recollection of your mind, times you neglected to thank them. Pause before each vision as you would a painting in a museum. Appreciate the vision holding up your heart-shaped hands as you would before a painting.

Lower your heart-shaped hands to you heart and say, "thank you".

Set aside time every morning and evening to see with the eyes of a grateful heart. In fact, this exercise is not unlike what St. Ignatius Loyola suggests as part of his "Daily Examen". He suggests a prayerful review of the day in which one can detect God's presence and express gratitude, and recognize specific, gifts, blessings, and joys.

In God's Words

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"

(Psalm 136)

"Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," (Ephesians 5:20)

In the Words of Others

"When you are grateful - when you can see what you have - you unlock blessings to flow in your life." Suze Orman

"When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. " Tecumseh

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." G.K. Chesterton