Appreciation is a natural gift. It is meant to lead us to God ... Appreciation naturally appears the moment our self-concern is relinquished. It cannot be possessed and it cannot be earned; it simply IS, a free gift, available everywhere. Life is known then more as art than task. The greatest task becomes our work to help others realize such wonder. The wonder is so great that we are in danger of overfascination. We easily become focused on the gifts as an end in themselves; they do not always lead us to the Giver. We subtly become attached to the felt beauty and miss not only the initial invitation to thanksgiving, but the yet deeper invitation: to release ourselves to God as we are enabled and let rise that full quality of awareness that is beyond felt beauty, beyond self-reflective appreciation.
This is a difficult but amazing journey, this life we are leading through these years of change. Let us hold firmly a vision of peace (inner and outer) for all the world, health and happiness for all creatures and the Earth itself, and a more vital spiritual consciousness for everyone. Our thoughts have power. May we help think into existence the universal flowering of spirituality!