We are just back from a lovely meal with our friends Nick and Lindsay.

Nick has been writing a lot of stuff on his blog on the theme of gratefulness- being thankful for all the good stuff we have in our lives- and we were teasing him a little about him morphing from Shrek into Polyanna.

If you have not come across the story of Polyanna before, she is a little girl who copes with adversity by the power of sunny disposition and optimism- transforming the lives of people around her along the way.

And she plays the ‘glad game’-

Teasing aside- there is a kind of gratefulness that allows us to enter into our situation in a deeper, more connected way- to be more mindful, more alive. Thankfulness opens us up to something vital and good.

This is not the same thing as ignoring adversity, and pretending all is well. There is pain, and seasons of suffering will come. But it might be that living in gratefulness is a humble path towards healing and wholeness.

My wife Michaela (for whom Polyanna has always been a bit of a role model) had a tough time a year or so ago, and as part of her own recovery, started to write in her diary three things that she was grateful for each day.

Very occasionally it is- me.