Read Handout 1, Gratitude for What We May Take for Granted. This is not an easy prayer. The author, a UU minister, calls us to a grateful response to experiences we would characterize as negative. The prayer does not ask us to be happy about life's pain. It acknowledges that our anger, tears, or feelings of brokenness can make gratitude difficult. Yet negative experiences are part of life, for which we are grateful.

Does being grateful for our life mean we should be thankful for the "downs" as well as the "ups?" What has been your experience? What can you communicate to youth, during the workshop, about the humbling experience of simply being a human being?