People are often measured by how grateful they can be. Some of us can have a lot to be grateful for and yet, we could easily slip into seeing what we have not, rather than all we have.
The saying... 'the glass is half-full OR the glass is half empty...' can be a simple measure for us, especially in small things. We may develop desires for many things, and lose sight of all that makes us happy.
Looking back on our lives, we can find good examples of how to be grateful, and grow in this wondeful virtue. My father was a hard-working man, yet gentle in many ways. Whenever difficuties came up about money, he would say, 'as long as we have food on the table and a place to call home, then there is no need to worry.'
I remember as a child, having a great desire for a bike, yet I knew bikes were expensive. One day my father surprised me with a bike. It was old, second-hand with a black frame and purple mud-guards. It was a struggle for me to pretend to be happy, because it was not the shiny bike I wanted.
However, in learning to ride the bike, I had such fun and so I learned to be grateful, and to see that our desires may not come as we would like, yet in being grateful, we gain the gift of gratitude and happiness.
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