Gratitude has changed my life completely. Gratitude has kept me humble and kept me receiving more even when I have never sought after things. I don't know how, but the more grateful I am the more it works like a charm to bring abundance. I have experienced this over and over again in my life and in this post I would like to give thanks to so many people while telling you stories from my life.
A long time ago I read the story of the ten lepers in the Bible. They came to Jesus and all the ten were healed. However, only one came back to give thanks and Jesus asks were not ten healed? He was looking for some form of gratitude. God looking for gratitude struck me as strange. Why would he expect gratitude? The answer that came to me was simple, because gratitude builds me up to be the person I should be.
Thirteen days ago my account was hacked and I lost everything I earned and saved for the power up just the day before. Here is my post I wrote this hours after that happened. I promised myself I'll be safe and I will bounce back. Did I do that? Yes, with the help of a few good Samaritans here.
Then 
I wanted to return these gifts back to the respective owners and did not powerup as scheduled. To my surprise my friend 
Not that I was ungrateful but I am completely overwhelmed. So I grabbed this opportunity with both hands to thank them and tell the world that here are some people I am indebted to all my life.
Do you want to hear stranger stories which could overwhelm you? Read on.
While I was still a few days old here I met 
Five days ago 
Honestly, I didn't even know how to reach them and say these words 'thank you'. Now, I am so happy that I could express my gratitude in as many words.
Why is gratitude important to me?
Gratitude keeps me humble, it keeps me believing in positive things. Gratitude makes me believe in a world full of humanity and I believe the best way to repay gratitude is to pay it forward. These people have taught me once again that I can do to others what they have done for me.
I usually bake a cake or send a gift of my painting/craft work, or home grown plants to thank people. On Hive I could not do any of these things so I decided to write about them and used this challenge as my launching pad.
I am so happy I could do this because it has been weighing heavily on my mind. Just saying thank you in words is not sufficient I think, I need to show them that their trust in me and their generosity has not been wasted on me. I decided to work even harder if that was possible and have been at this tirelessly.
My goal is to delegate to as many good writers as possible as I start inching my way up.Paying back is easier, but paying it forward is taking things a step further and making more people happy. It is then not even your gift you are just passing what someone gave you to another person in need. Even though I would have liked to save towards a birding lens paying it forwards is now my goal.
Everyday my first and my last prayers are for those who have helped me in some way. I believe God expects that of me and I would fail him if I do not do that. Bless those who bless us isn't very hard right? So, I do that everyday.
The scripture says, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' It also says that 'But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,.' Matthew 6:3 My husband and I give to the needy and the orphans but we ensure that we are not known. There is so much joy in giving and remain unknown, to see happiness in the faces of others.
We receive gratitude with grace but quickly change the conversation. It is very important for us that it does not go to our head. We learned this 20 years ago from the Missionaries of charity where we volunteered to care for sick and orphaned babies. The nuns there are the epitome of mercy and love and working with them weekend after weekend taught us to understand what it is to gift someone.
Day after day those nuns gift 'life' to little abandoned children and dignity of life to dying people. They never make a show of it. They do all this in the course of their daily duty. This was a huge lesson for us, my husband and I. Churches would want to give us plaques or write our names on pews, we have refused to give to such churches. This is our way of paying forward, we love to remain unknown and uncelebrated.
It is not that we do not want to accept gratitude, it is just that this is our way of life. Philanthropy has taken a different turn today in this world, people often do it as a cover up for their past. They give out of their bounty to be known and appreciated; but our faith has taught us otherwise and we live by our faith. This is our simple lifestyle. This is what we have taught our boys as well.
To me it is important to be grateful and even more important to pay it forward.
I thank the ecotrain community for this opportunity. I just came to know about this challenge a few hours ago when I read a post on my feed.
Thank you for reading and responding. Please join me in blessing those who blessed me.