Because attention attracts gratitude and gratitude expands joy, it's time for Thankful Thursday (on, err, Friday).

I'm easy to please — just write me a letter. Handwritten notes make me giddy. This week I'm thankful for a bounty of kindness: completely unexpected and unsolicited letters and cards in my mailbox. And tucked inside a very nice note was a lovely poem with a touching backstory.

This poem appears in God's Hotel, a book chronicling Dr. Victoria Sweet's work with the poor, homeless and mentally ill at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco, California. The author of the following poem is Mr Zed (a pseudonym to protect privacy), who was a member of the hospital's poetry group:

Letter Needing No Stamp

To His Supreme Holiness, the Lord:
I sometimes wonder how you can bear
The dreadful burden of knowing everyone's thoughts.
The anguish, the heartbreak, the agony.
How can you even relax?
Maybe you try not to get too involved.
Or maybe you spend all night, weeping.

Why did you create such a sad world?
Why don't sandwiches grow on trees?
Why do infants die?
Why do honest people get cheated?
Why do the poor get crushed to the wall?
Personally, I would turn down your job in a second.
You can't buy a pie or go to the movies.

And there are always people denouncing you and cursing you.
Some say you had a crazy son who said
I am the Way and the Life.

We must all pray that you never resign or become bitter.
As sad as things seem to be here
Without you they'd be infinitely worse.
Thank God for God
Stay in there buddy
Have a martini once in a while
Create a new universe.

— Mr. Zed

It's Thankful Thursday. Please join me.
What are you thankful for today?