Living Stories

The Power Of Gratitude, My Grandmother.

My Grandmother is 87 years old. She loves gardening, and she has got a habit of not sitting still as she loves to do some work all the time. In June, while working in the garden outside our home, she slipped and her thigh bone was broken. She started crying in drastic pain.

My father and I took her to the hospital. After examining her, the doctor said that the bone was broken from the joint and there was no chance now that she would ever walk, even after an operation because she was old and her bones were too weak.

That was very sad moment for all of us. I looked into my grandmother’s face. She was crying and looking at me as if she believed that I would do everything to treat her. We asked the Doctor if she could sit? The doctor said, “Yes but only after an operation”.

She got operated on the next day, a metallic rod was fixed in the joint of her hip and thigh. The operation was successful. The doctor resisted about her being able to walk on her own. For the next month, she did everything in the bed only. All of us tried our best to take care of her. I remember those nights when she used to cry immensely in pain and we could only give her consolation. Once she said while crying, “I don’t want to live anymore, nothing is left now. I am giving all of you pain and grief”. I got so sad listening to that but I told her one thing. I said, “Ma, maybe you have got a broken bone but all the other parts of your body are functioning properly. It is okay if you can’t walk but if you can sit, that would be excellent for us.”.

I don’t know exactly what happened to her after she listened to my words but from that day on, she stopped complaining completely. Instead, she started saying thank you to God almost all the time. When people used to come to meet her and to express their sad emotions towards her, she used to say with a laughing face, ” I am alright and I will start walking soon to water my plants.”.

She was truly grateful that her other leg was perfect, she was grateful that she could properly watch, listen and hear us, she was grateful that we were with her in every situation and she was grateful that she could sit and sleep.

One and the half months after her operation she asked us to let her stand on her legs. My father helped her stand. That day for the first time, after almost 50 days, my grandmother could stand on both of her legs. That was a fantastic moment for all of us. From that day on, she tried her best to do exercises and to stand. Slowly she started walking with the help of a walker. I can imagine how much pain she felt while walking initially. But she had already decided to never complain. She was so happy that she managed to walk, even a little.

After two and a half months we went to the doctor who had operated my grandmother. I entered his office with my grandmother and yes, you guessed it right! My grandmother entered on her own without the help of any walker or anything. The Doctor was shocked after watching her walking! My grandmother blessed him and gave a sincere thank you. She said, “If you were not there, I could not have ever walked”. The doctor replied in shock and wonder, “Mata Ji, I have done lots of operations in my career but this is the first case of an 87 year old woman walking just two months of her operation! You are the true inspiration for me, today you are walking only because of you, not because of me!”.

That is how Gratitude works. When you focus only on your blessings and don’t bother about what you lack, you tell the Universe that you are happy with what you have and in return, the Universe gives you things and situations for you to feel happy about.