day no. 17,419: all grateful with nowhere to go

"Rossetti makes the remark somewhere, bitterly but with great truth, that the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." — G.K. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi

Joy is harder for an atheist to account for than despair. Heart ache makes sense if the world is heartless, but thankfulness does not make sense if the world is not full. Joy is the undoing of unbelief. When gratitude wells up within, it seeks an outlet. It wants to pour out in the form of a "Thank you," but if the man does not believe in a You above to thank, he is left with a heart that wishes there was.