Getting coffee and gratitude.

Shared this on Facebook. Thought I'd share it here too...

It's so easy to get caught up in the news and feel like we are heading for Armageddon, isn't it? And yet thankfully, there are those moments where gratitude overwhelms us.

I just went for coffee and these are some of the things that I noticed:

First I saw an older gentleman, he had to be a grandfather holding a younger child, and they were both laughing together.

Coming towards me on the sidewalk was a young father and the same thing was going on. He was holding his daughter and they both had big bright smiles on their faces.

Then I went inside the coffee shop and I noticed the incredible teamwork of the employees behind the counter. They were working hard and having fun.

While I was waiting for my coffee I thought about a friend of mine who has taken in a fifteen year old boy who has been abandoned by his parents. I am in awe of his kindness.

The coffee shop was full of people sitting together having conversations and just listening to one another. It felt so healthy!

On my way back to the apartment I noticed someone sweeping leaves off the sidewalk and picking up litter and for some reason it made me think of the bombed out streets in Syria. It made me so grateful to live in a country where there are no bombs and people can walk with their children and their grandchildren on clean sidewalks and laugh together in peace and safety.

The leaves on the trees in the square outside our apartment have turned a beautiful bright yellow. Mmmm... beauty = joy.

On the way up the elevator, bursting with gratitude, I thought of my co- workers who have to deal with people who are having psychotic episodes and how they have to carefully pull our mail from the mailbox because people have been putting used needles in there. They gladly continue to serve and look past the insanity of addiction and mental illness that they have to deal with everyday because they graciously recognize that no matter what one's state of mind is we all deserve to be loved.

When I got back to the apartment and gave Kath her coffee, I was so grateful that I have someone in my life who loves me the way she does.

And finally, I thought in these days of such discouraging political and world news that there is so much to be grateful for - even on a short walk to the coffee shop.