Gratitude: One of Life’s Most Important Lessons
Kimberly Lockwood is a traveler on the spiritual path whose sunny, positive outlook on life makes her an inspiration and role model for her family and friends. She is most grateful for her role as wife and mother to Barry and Brittany Lockwood, respectively. She credits her family, and the Church of Religious Science as important catalysts for her own growth process. She is a resident of La Costa, California.
Gratitude is one of life’s most important lessons. It can also be one of the simplest, if we learn it the first time around.
As a child, when I said thank you, I was saying what my parents had taught me to say. I did not have that true feeling of gratefulness. It was just something I did; it was what my parents called “good manners.”
As I grew, this practice just became a good habit: “Always be polite, always respect your elders; always say ’Please’ and ’Thank you.”’
As an adult, I began to appreciate the things around me—how beautiful the mountains are in the fall, the snow-capped peaks in winter, the vibrant colors of spring flowers, and how fresh and clean the air smells after it has rained. I started to see the beauty in the world around me. Was this gratitude I was feeling?
Time went on, and I enjoyed life and what it had to offer. I found the most wonderful partner. We became friends and then grew to love each other. We went through some tough times, but we grew stronger as a couple as a result. A year or so later, we were married.
Everything was wonderful! It was now time to settle down and start our life together. But instead, we went a little crazy for a while, just doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. If we wanted something, we bought it. It didn’t matter whether we had the cash or not; we simply charged it.
After a while, we stopped and looked at what we were doing to ourselves. It was not a pretty sight! Where did our gratitude go? We were taking things for granted, not appreciating what we had. Just wanting more, more, more.
Okay, time to straighten ourselves out. We started a savings account, only paid cash for things, and stopped going overboard with gifts. Family and friends will love us no matter how much we spend on them, we realized.
Times were very tough while we dug ourselves out of our financial hole. So, I can tell you that I am really excited to have a little cash in my wallet these days!
As time went by, I became pregnant—a wonderful surprise to my husband and me. As the months passed and that little life grew inside of me, so did our gratitude. Being able to experience this miracle was the greatest gift we had ever been given.
On the day our daughter was born and she was handed to my husband, I have to say that watching his face was incredible—his eyes filled with tears of joy. You could see the love he was feeling. Then, he placed her in my arms, and all I could say was, “Thank you, God!” Tears streamed down our faces. We had truly been blessed. As I looked into my daughter’s eyes, I was completely overwhelmed with love and gratitude. She was an angel from God.
I finally got it—the ultimate feeling of gratitude. I carry that feeling with me every day. Gratitude is a special gift. Don’t take anything for granted. Love and appreciate everything in your life. It’s there for a reason—learn from it.
And remember, when you say thank you, really feel thankful. I do!
