Cursillo #145

EDUSC Cursillo Weekend #145 Dedicated to a Grateful Heart – YOURS

First, focus on the heart, not the brain. The Heart is not easily swayed. What the heart is attached to is
there to stay and is not easily reasoned away or changed by something we read. When I speak from the
Heart, I cry. (Get used to it.) Because it means so much to me.
Second, Grateful. It means so much more than a “thank you” for a birthday present, a new golf club, a
dress, winning a tennis match - all fleeting bursts of joy. Webster’s dictionary would define gratitude as
appreciation, thankfulness.
But we are not dedicating the weekend to Webster’s dictionary.
When I connect real gratitude with the parts of me that live in my heart, my life is impacted. As we get
older, we lose more and more of those things that we thought we couldn't do without. Only then we
really value what we’ve lost - a parent or spouse, our hearing, a leg.
If only we had fully appreciated the things we have now lost. Well, we cannot roll back the clock. But we
can learn valuable lessons from our past. Each one is different. May each one of us examine those
things, traits and people that we would really miss if they were taken from us. Then we have a list of
those blessings recognized in our hearts.
Once we identify such blessings, then we can take time and effort to nurture that joy. Each one of us
begins and ends with an examination of his or her own heart. Let us identify those sources of Joy which
Jesus has given us.

Duvy Spruill, Lay Rector, EDUSC Cursillo Weekend 145