Some gratitude is easy to express and other times it takes effort. This is about those times when the expression of gratitude needs active participation. Several weeks ago I wrote a note of gratitude to a friend. The note still sits in my planner, yet to find its way to the post office. I used the excuse that I want to send the note on my newly designed stationery; I need to print up more bookmarks; I will make sure I copy the note and mail it tomorrow. The truth is, this note in particular is very difficult. It requires something more than gratitude from me. It requires release.
Many find themselves at this same crossroad in their relationships. We enjoy the company of friends and then things grow in opposition to our desires. I know I am grateful for this friendship. I grew, I learned and I loved. We shared many evenings enjoying the company of each other. Is it such a negative thing when the tide of the relationship ebbs?
Perhaps what I have learned most is that friendships are not static, they are dynamic. They change, evolve, they ebb and flow; they rise and fall. They flow outward from our center, our essence our soul and join with the essence of another. This constant flow provides the ingredients for the richness and riskiness of our relationships. When we do not release, when we hold on, friendships cannot flow forward and garner strength, or release the pain of our struggles and become static. Like rivers, relationships gather strength from the gifts of our essence. And like rivers, the flow of a relationship is sometimes tumultuous, sometimes slow and steady, however, relationships constantly flow from the stream that releases.
So, we must let our friendships flow from our spirit, our soul, our being, feeding the flow. And like the rains that fill our ponds and brooks and flow to our rivers, sometimes we fill our relationships with that which flows from our center, and sometimes we use the reservoir gathered from the strength which previously filled the relationship.
Simply stated, simply felt, simply gratitude.
