Is gratefulness always a sign that God is present in my desire or action? — Tracy A., Bronx, NY

Dear Tracy, God’s presence, to our eternal blessing, is never even a whisper away from us. This precious fact remains true whether or not we are aware of it, whether or not we are grateful.

But as you seem to realize, gratefulness is indeed a sign. It shows that you recognize the nearness of your Source and respond openheartedly.

Perceptive people around the globe express this intimate exchange in their unique ways. In St. Paul’s early Christian writings, we read that in the Divine “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Sufi poet Farid al-Din 'Attar tells us that “if the eye of the heart is open, in each atom there will be one hundred secrets.” Jewish writer and mystic Etty Hillesum writes to her dear friend Henny (“Tide”) Tidemann that “things come and go in a deeper rhythm,” than the sorrow and suffering she encountered daily in Westerbork concentration camp. “And people must be taught to listen; it is the most important thing we have to learn in this life.”

This listening draws our attention to the Presence always inseparably with us. The more aware we become, the more we experience the Beloved even in the midst of our mistakes and apparent “failures”: the times when our actions appear to go awry. We see this shift of perspective most dramatically when a person “hits rock bottom” and suddenly realizes s/he needs help, going on to weave a lifetime of miscalculation into a tapestry of profound insight and service to others. But in smaller ways, we recalibrate our actions every day by observing what works to draw us closer to our heart’s deepest longing.

So yes, gratefulness always is a sign of God’s presence in your desire or action. But more specifically, gratefulness is like your heart’s way of glancing back to its Source in joy and confidence. Then you can surely know that you are all the time swimming in a tide of God’s love that will never desert you.

-- Patricia Carlson