“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice.”
― Meister Eckhart

One of my teachers used to say that an “attitude of gratitude” was the fastest way into Divine Presence. Meister Eckhart says that if “thanks” is the only prayer that ever passes our lips, it’s enough! Pretty radical stuff, given that there are millions of intricate prayers across thousands of faith paths covering every topic imaginable to the human soul.

Prayers for help, redemption, blessings, praise, intercession, relief; the list goes on and on. What makes a simple prayer of thanks so all encompassing?

It may be that in order to give thanks, we need to pause and reflect on what’s good around us or within us. To notice grace, a gift, a blessing in the moment. No matter how brief, a moment spent in gratitude is a moment of perfection, a moment spent acknowledging, “This is Good.”

Prayer is more important for what it does to us than what it gets for us. We can never be certain that prayer will effect any change out in the world. But we can be certain that it will effect change within us. And when we pause and open our eyes to what we have to be grateful for, even for a split second. we are at peace.  And Peace is the Whole.

What can you give thanks for, right here and right now?

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Eckhart von Hochheim (c. 1260 – c. 1328), commonly known as Meister Eckhart , was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Holy Roman Empire.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.