My friend Diana tells the story of a college friend who seemed to have everything.

She came from a wealthy family, went to private schools, had a great wardrobe, and was very popular. Yet over time Diana noticed how often this woman would complain. She did not get the perfect grades she wanted at school. The man she was dating was not popular enough. Her wardrobe was never right. And on and on.

Eventually Diana and her rich friend parted company, and soon after Diana came upon some research that talked about headwinds and tailwinds.

Tailwinds are those blessings we have that we have a hard time remembering, our wealth, education, status, etc. Our headwinds are the challenges that beset us, often with our careers, our families, our finances, etc. And research finds that we are much more apt to pay attention to the headwinds than the tailwinds, often to our demise.

This may have been the case in Sunday's gospel, when 10 lepers approached Jesus asking to be healed, Jesus heals them all, sending them to the high priest, who has the authority to readmit them into society. Curiously, only one of the 10 return to Jesus, and a Samaritan at that.  Jesus, then lifts up a lesson about the importance of paying attention to our tailwinds.

Many of us are more than familiar with the scientific research on gratefulness, that grateful people have lower blood pressure, sleep sounder, are more resilient when faced with adversity, etc. - this, as we fight forces around us that would have us pay more attention to our adversitties than our blessings.

So perhaps we are being asked,

What are our tailwinds?

How often do we remember them and thank God for them?
What might I do this week to more regularly take note of these blessings?