"Habitual Gratitude"

Meister Eckhart famously said that "If the only prayer you ever uttered was Thank You, that would be sufficient" and like most spiritual maxims, it is easily read, understood and ascribed to but deeply difficult to practice. And yet, grace breaks through.
My devotions this morning included part of William Ellery Channing's sermon, "Unitarian Christianity Most Favorable to Piety" which includes this definition of that word (piety) so little used in our times, yet so rich with meaning:

By piety... "I mean, filial love and reverence towards God, habitual gratitude, cheerful trust, ready obedience, and though last not least, an imitation of the ever-active and unbounded benevolence of the Creator."

A little later, I happened to read over at One Day Isle (http://onedayisle.blogspot.com/2008/11/first-class-temerament.html) a wonderful post that concludes: "Is it any wonder that gratitude always trumps grief in my experience, and that optimism rather than mourning remains the principal mood of the day...." Thanks Eclectic Cleric and...
Blessings