I’m aware again today of the power of intention and the necessity of determination as well. I was awake, you see, at 4:45am but determined to take advantage of the 90 minutes still available to me for the rest that early morning sleep affords. With that in mind I did my best to let go of my mind’s busyness and today it worked! When I heard my alarm at 6:15 I was grateful and recognized a welcome “start-up” line floating through my consciousness. It was as if Kahlil Gibran had come himself to invite me to the day. To wake at dawn, he said, with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. (from The Prophet, On Love).
With that gift, I was propelled out of bed and companioned at every step on the staircase to the kitchen with a “thank you” that just kept rolling effortlessly along. Thank you for this day, thank you for my feet that uphold me, for my Sisters still asleep and for the quiet, for the potential in this day at the office, for a clear sky…thank you, God, for everything I see and for the gift of sight…That may strike readers as simplistic and unrealistic but underneath that gushing waterfall of words is a deep knowing of the pain and suffering that exists in the world. The grace of today is that the suffering does not blot out the joy and gratitude for the life, the love.
It is somewhat like the experience that we see and hear reflected in the reports of the Bush family as they take their father/grandfather through the ceremonies of the next two days. The loss of this man to each of them and all of them – and to the country – is immeasurable. To allow his rest from the labors of his life and to celebrate what will remain in memory is the reward for letting him go into light.
May we each find reason to give thanks this day.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 
That last sentence is good advice. It’s hard to do…