Discipline of Gratitude

Think about gratitude. Gratitude is a necessary. It's not an obligation, like saying the "magic words" of thank you when someone does something for you.  It's a way of living.  It's how we step away from resentment, greed, and selfishness.  It's how we open ourselves up to a life with God.  

Read this from Henri Nouwen's book, The Return of the Prodigal Son:

Gratitude, however, goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.  In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.

Have you ever considered gratitude to be a discipline? Do you make an explicit, intentional effort to recognize that "all you are and have is given to you as a gift of love."

What would change in your life (and in mine) if we practiced the discipline of gratitude?