{"id":271,"date":"2012-09-26T09:57:33","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T14:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/?p=271"},"modified":"2012-09-26T09:57:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T14:57:33","slug":"practicing-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Leah Kostamo<\/p>\n

The hallmark of a truly \u201csimple\u201d life is gratitude. \u201cGratitude is the heart of faith,\u201d writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude. In this vein, she relates a lovely prayer of gratitude the Jewish people pray every Passover as they celebrate the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt. The prayer centres around the Hebrew word Dayenu, which in English means, It would have been enough.<\/p>\n

If you had only led us to the edge of the Red Sea but not taken us through the waters, it would have been enough.If you had only taken us through the Red Sea but not led us through the desert, it would have been enough.If you had only led us through the desert but not taken us to Sinai, it would have been enough.<\/p>\n

Leddy suggests using this template as a helpful spiritual exercise in reflecting on one\u2019s own life. For example: If I had only been born but not had a twin sister, it would have been enough. If I had only had a twin sister but hadn\u2019t visited Orcas Island, it would have been enough. If I had only seen the sun set off Otter\u2019s Point, but hadn\u2019t experienced a snowfall in the Rockies, it would have been enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
photo by Brooke McAllister<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we are satisfied with our lives as being enough, we are able to resist the whispers of consumerism that tell us we don\u2019t have enough or we are not enough. When our sense of satisfaction is rooted in an amazement at the givenness of every gift\u201dfrom friends to home to our very own lives\u201dthen we are grounded in the firm grace of abundance.<\/p>\n

Gratitude\u2019s starting point is wonder. I love what the Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel says about true spiritual living: \u201cOur goal should be to live life in radical amazement.\u201d He encouraged his students to take nothing for granted. \u201cEverything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.\u201d The amazement comes as we realize everything we have and every gift we experience is pure grace. To be born would have been enough, but then I\u2019m given a loving family. Wow! To be raised in a loving family would have been enough, but then I am surrounded by caring mentors. Amazing! We are invited not only to consider the big gifts, but the little gifts as well\u201dthe light slanting through the fir trees on a fall afternoon or the caress of a small child\u2019s hand on our arm. It\u2019s all grace. It\u2019s all amazing. It all warrants our gratitude.<\/p>\n

Leah Kostamo and her husband Markku have worked for the past ten years to establish the ministry of A Rocha in Canada (arocha.ca<\/a>). As part of A Rocha\u2019s work they established a Christian environemntal center on the coast of British Columbia. The center is a hub for a myriad of conservation, education and sustainable living activities. Leah blogs about their salmon saving, stranger welcoming, organic gardening adventures at leahkostamo.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly \u201csimple\u201d life is gratitude. \u201cGratitude is the heart of faith,\u201d writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude. In this vein, she relates a lovely prayer of gratitude the Jewish people pray every Passover as they celebrate the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt. The prayer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":535,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[185,3,186,184,183],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-christian-life","tag-a-rocha-canada","tag-creation-care","tag-gratitude","tag-leah-kostamo","tag-simplicity"],"yoast_head":"\nPracticing Gratitude<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly "simple" life is gratitude. "Gratitude is the heart of faith," writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Practicing Gratitude\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly "simple" life is gratitude. "Gratitude is the heart of faith," writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Earth is the Lord's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/files\/2012\/09\/gratitude-300x236.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexei Laushkin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexei Laushkin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/\",\"name\":\"Practicing Gratitude\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/e5c473d5cf865d30a5eb5c4fdc9b54ff\"},\"description\":\"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly \\\"simple\\\" life is gratitude. \\\"Gratitude is the heart of faith,\\\" writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Practicing Gratitude\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/\",\"name\":\"The Earth is the Lord's\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/e5c473d5cf865d30a5eb5c4fdc9b54ff\",\"name\":\"Alexei Laushkin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dd0c074c8cbb5dd177357ce8d521975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dd0c074c8cbb5dd177357ce8d521975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alexei Laushkin\"},\"description\":\"Alexei Laushkin is the Senior Director of Communications for the Evangelical Environmental Network and Editor of Creation Care Magazine. He and his wife and daughter live in Virginia. Learn more about creation care at http:\/\/creationcare.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/creationcare.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/author\/alexeilaushkin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Practicing Gratitude","description":"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly \"simple\" life is gratitude. \"Gratitude is the heart of faith,\" writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Practicing Gratitude","og_description":"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly \"simple\" life is gratitude. \"Gratitude is the heart of faith,\" writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/","og_site_name":"The Earth is the Lord's","article_published_time":"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/files\/2012\/09\/gratitude-300x236.jpg"}],"author":"Alexei Laushkin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexei Laushkin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/","name":"Practicing Gratitude","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-26T14:57:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/e5c473d5cf865d30a5eb5c4fdc9b54ff"},"description":"by Leah Kostamo The hallmark of a truly \"simple\" life is gratitude. \"Gratitude is the heart of faith,\" writes Mary Jo Leddy, author of Radical Gratitude.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/2012\/09\/practicing-gratitude\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Practicing Gratitude"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/","name":"The Earth is the Lord's","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/e5c473d5cf865d30a5eb5c4fdc9b54ff","name":"Alexei Laushkin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dd0c074c8cbb5dd177357ce8d521975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dd0c074c8cbb5dd177357ce8d521975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alexei Laushkin"},"description":"Alexei Laushkin is the Senior Director of Communications for the Evangelical Environmental Network and Editor of Creation Care Magazine. He and his wife and daughter live in Virginia. Learn more about creation care at http:\/\/creationcare.org.","sameAs":["http:\/\/creationcare.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/author\/alexeilaushkin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/foolsconfidence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}