Gratitude

Provisions for the night

A traveller never set out at dusk without first stopping to pack bread and water for the dark stretch ahead. Asked why he paused when he was tired and wished only to press on, he said: “The night is long and the road unlit. A little gratitude for the day, a little asking for the way — these are the provisions that carry me through.”

The door of the helpless

A rich man and a beggar arrived at the same door at the same hour. The rich man announced his gifts and waited to be welcomed; the beggar only stood with empty, open hands. The door opened for the beggar first. “This is the door of the helpless,” a voice explained. “It opens not to those who bring much, but to those who know they bring nothing.”

A blessing for everyone

Every Sikh prayer, however personal its beginning, ends with the same wide words: “Nanak naam chardi kala, tere bhaane sarbat da bhala” — may the Name keep our spirits ever high, and in Your will may all the world be blessed. Whatever one came to ask for, the asking opens out at the last into a blessing not for oneself alone, but for everyone alive.

Two ways home

Two travellers walked the same road at dusk, one taking the direct path, the other a longer loop through the orchard to gather fruit and sing as he went. Both arrived, both gave thanks. “There is not one true road to the evening,” an elder said, “only the same gratitude, walked at different lengths.”