With this posting I wish to express heartfelt appreciation for my followers. Having individuals give me a bit of their time is such an honor I invite each one of you to reflect with me for a moment right now. I considered “WHY?” do people choose to follow me?

Being a teacher most all of my life, I understood that students would earn an undergraduate or graduate degree after they followed my words in the classroom. Watching my father, the fundamentalist Baptist minister, preach each Sunday in the church, I witnessed people find their salvation because of his regular sermons. Observing various sales people, I learned that people listen to the details about various products to gain discounts, perks, knowledge regarding various items to assist them with travel plans, transportation, shelter, stylist clothing, toys for their children, and more. But with these posts on “gratitude” I am neither a pastor, teacher, or sales agent, so it is deeply satisfying to watch each of you “follow me” regularly as I put pen to paper (so to speak) to share my thoughts, impressions, beliefs, insights, and rambling with you.

Further, not only are each of you “giving a bit of your precious time to me” regularly, you apparently find some value when reading my words on paper, or when listening to my impressions by audio and visuals. So many of you followers go beyond my wildest expectations and express your opinions regarding my insights. You apologize to me when you are behind on reading my posts. You voice your agreements and disagreements with me. You thank me for my words because sometimes you feel comforted or calmed when reading my posts. Your curiosity is met, at times, when glancing at a particular opinion I may share. To those of you who have known me for years, I understand that some of my postings may feel like a personal letter to you, or update regarding my health, my family members’ life, my pet, or an announcement regarding a life event.

But, to those of you who have never met me, I admit I do smile each time I watch you visit my site. You kindly like my posts. You share my posts. You return to my posts. Apparently, you value my posts! So, understanding all the competing choices available to you on a daily basis for your time, at this moment I pause to reflect upon, and deeply value “WHY”. Also, because each of you give so much back to me, I, in turn do feel an obligation to “give” to you nearly daily out of an abundance of joy that you provide to me by reading these postings.

You see in our individualistic Western society, we typically have the opinion “what’s in it for me?”

I fully recognize that I am not giving you anything but “ideas”, “opinions”, “insights”, “moments of sharing”, “grateful messages”, “light impressions with pets”, “deeper value statements regarding our human essences”, and “temporary releases from the more or less boring events of a particular day” by coming together with you through these written or spoken words.

So, I invite you to pause just for one moment with me, and consider what a gift you are giving to me by “following” me! As a follower you are telling me you care. You are sending me the message that I have some value and purpose for your life. You are acknowledging that my values and insights are meaningful for you either as entertainment, or as tutorials, or as “thought” stimuli. It is deeply valuable to me to know that known and unknown human beings want to spend a bit of their days with me for no other reason than to “have a momentary meeting of our minds” on a wide range of topics of the day.

With today’s posting, I want to honor each of you. I hope to share the fact that I feel your kindness towards me. I value your opinions. I reflect upon our differences in opinions on some topics. I feel your forgiveness of some of our past arguments. I appreciate your own insights and encouragements of my musings.

Because I have “followers”, I feel a nudge to read and prepare something interesting to give to you. On some days, I want to entertain you with fun “pet stories”. On other days, I want to share a moment of beauty through nature with you. I push myself to provide you with insights, deeper meanings, calming reflections, position statements, and spiritual comments. I assume the responsibility to be the best poster I may be… for YOU.

Today, I just wanted you to know how much you following me means to me. May we continue to enjoy these momentary exchanges on a regular basis. May we grow deeper into our understanding of what being grateful really means for our lives. May we bond together as we delve into our own moral virtues, our deeply instilled value systems, developed throughout our lifetimes. May we continue our journeys into gratitude without regard for anything in return of a material nature, but rather may our times together bring us collective joys, and peace, and understanding both now and forever.

As we move into gratitude, I truly believe we experience a visceral change in our daily practices, attitudes toward others, and actions as human beings. To my followers, let me express my sincere joy in being together with you for these moments of life. May my musings rise to a continued level of value to you such that you return again and again to follow me. In return, let me pledge back to you that I will provide hidden treasures of meanings for your internal reflections and comments.

Thank you dear followers. With gratitude I THANK YOU for being out there. May I not disappoint you.