It was one of the last warm fall days during my postulant year at the convent. I was gathered with a group of sisters in our recreation room, laughing, doing puzzles, knitting, and generally enjoying one another’s company. Our novice mistress entered and made an announcement:
“Sisters, there is some yardwork that needs to be done this afternoon: raking, weeding, and trimming. Would you all please join me outside?”
The older sisters, the novices, and the newly professed immediately began to pack up their projects, and sang out joyfully: “Of course! Thank you, Sister!”
My internal response was much less virtuous. I did not like yardwork. I did not want to do yardwork. Yardwork made me hot, sweaty, and dirty. And I thought that all these women were crazy for jumping up so enthusiastically to rake leaves and weed the flower beds. Nevertheless, I joined them outside, dragging my feet and grumbling internally the whole way.
The Law of the Gift
I would discover later that I was not alone in my dislike of yardwork. The Sisters, by their thankfulness, were not professing an undying love for the task, but rather were practicing an attitude of gratitude—choosing to see life through the lens of gift.
The philosophy of the “law of the gift” was championed by phenomenologists such as Dietrich Von Hildebrand, his wife Alice, and Pope Saint John Paul II. It proposes a relational way of seeing the world where everything is an exchange of gifts. By being grateful for yardwork, the sisters were practicing this perception, choosing to see the obligatory task not as a burden, but as an opportunity to participate in grace.
Gardens thrive through attention to detail, dedication, and repetition. So too do our souls thrive in the practice of gratitude, seeing what is before us and being grateful for the gifts God gives us in our day-to-day lives.
Relational Living
The “law of the gift” begins with love of God and faith in God’s plan for us in both the large and small details of our lives. God is always sending us opportunities to draw closer to Him, but oftentimes we miss these opportunities. Tending a garden requires attentiveness to the little details—weeds, stones, bugs, the pH level of the soil, and so on. So too in our spiritual lives we must be attentive to the details within the opportunities God presents to us.
Alice Von Hildebrand once advised: “Whatever happens to you, say to yourself, ‘My God, it might not have been my choice, but it is your choice. And therefore I love it.’ I believe that is the key to the meaning of life.”
Once we can respond to God in this way, we can begin to respond to others as well, receiving them as gifts, thereby seeing their true dignity as human persons. When we clear away our own annoyance with a person or situation, we can see them more clearly, the way God sees them. Just like clearing the weeds from a garden, gratitude helps us to clearly see the flowers and give them room to grow.
My Time is Free
“Holy Father, when is your free time?” a reporter asked Pope Saint John Paul II during his papacy. Between writing encyclicals, traveling around the world, daily prayers, and papal audiences, he was a very busy man, with seemingly little time for himself. In response to this question, the Saint simply smiled and said:
"All my time is free."
When we receive the circumstances, people, and tasks in our lives as gifts, then we are participating freely in God’s will. We are giving our fiat, our yes, in gratitude, to the Lord. When I got up to do yardwork with my Sisters, I was not giving of myself freely, but begrudgingly, partially. With gratitude, our participation in God’s plan and in His grace is free and full.
Gratitude in the Day-to-Day
It is all well and good to write about gratitude as an abstract thing, but how do we practice it in our daily lives?
1. Gratitude Journal //
One method is to keep a gratitude journal. At the end of every day, write down one to three things you are grateful for and why. This practice helps you to end your day on a positive note, allowing you to reflect on your experiences with peace and gratitude rather than anxiety. At the end of the week, read over what you’ve written and take a moment to praise God for His blessings.
2. Gratitude Jar //
A similar practice is to make a gratitude jar. In your home, place a large jar or box with paper and pens sitting next to it. Throughout the month or year, encourage your family to write down what they are grateful for and place them in the jar. It can be as simple as “beautiful weather” or “Mom’s pancakes.” At the end of the month or year, gather as a family to read these little notes together and reflect on God’s goodness in your lives.
3. Gratitude Group Chat //
Finally, consider starting a gratitude group chat with a few close friends. Sharing daily gratitude in a communal space is a really great practice for long-distance friends. It allows you to rejoice with those who are rejoicing! It also can be helpful in keeping you accountable to the practice of gratitude.
God asks us to participate in our own salvation, His grace building on our nature. He sends the rain for our souls, the nutrients in the soil, and “gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Our task is to tend, to weed, to be attentive to the process and, above all, to be grateful. So, my dear sisters in Christ, I invite you to join me in giving thanks to God for the fresh flowers, the rain, and yes, even for the yardwork.
Rosie Hall is a freelance writer and lover of well-steeped tea. She spent three years after high school discerning a vocation. Since leaving, she has tried a bit of everything: attending Ave Maria University, traveling, bartending, journalism, producing podcasts, knitting; always seeking to follow the Lamb wherever He goes! Rosie's next adventure takes her across the pond to study literature at Oxford University.
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