Gratitude 101 for agnostics, or Blinded by Coffee

I forgot to put the filter screen in my coffee maker. I watched it do weird things as it got hotter: sparks flew, steam streamed out the top. It wiggled around. I cautiously opened the lid and peered in.

I was talking on the phone with a friend and couldn't hear her properly with the coffee pot hissing and whatnot. So I walked away. And then it exploded, spewing pressurized, boiling coffee grinds and water in a five foot radius around the stove.

Because no one got hurt, this was incredibly funny. The whole house burst out laughing. We took pictures. We giggled. It was a party tale, like the split pea soup on the ceiling story someone's aunty told me. It was such a relief that no one was injured. We were celebrating. I was filled with gratitude. Gratitude for not having my curious, open eye over the coffee when it blew; for none of the children being in the vicinity; for this very dangerous thing to have happened any no one getting hurt. Being agnostic, I am not sure to whom or what (or if to anyone/thing) my gratitude is attached to.

Gratitude is a cyclic emotion. A Giver gives something, usually a Blessing, to a Receiver and the Receiver experiences gratitude. Without the Blessing (or the Receiver's perception of a Blessing) there is no gratitude. So. Where is the other end of my gratitude loop? To whom, to what, which way, how, do I express my gratitude for the prevention of blinding by coffee?

There is an ancient Jewish accolade, The blessing for a good deed is the good deed itself. God is not a necessary source of blessing- the act of being "good" is a blessing in itself. And being good, whatever definition I may apply to it, is within my control. Exclusively. No one else, not even God, can make me good. In effect, I create my own Blessing. If I can experience Blessing without God, then I can experience gratitude without God.

I live in an infinite universe, which must allow for the possibility of a Sky Daddy version of God. A universe with a God who watches us, closely, and interacts with us on a daily and personal level. Or I can live in my universe, where God is the manipulatable energy that defines reality. Either way, I don't need a higher power for for gratitude. I only have to experience gratitude. I become both the Giver and the Receiver. The experience itself is both the Blessing and the gratitude, in perfect union inside me.

Thank you Sasha, for coining the term Sky Daddy.