The Wonder of Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving (And All Year Long)
Wishing can make it so, but so much depends on being grateful at the same time.
Stop in life's mad rush and take time to be thankful.
The word "thankfulness" suggests being full of thanks, or being thankful for all of life's blessings.
There are surely times when the blessings of life seem obscured by life's trials and tests.
How then do we become full of thanks, thankful for all of life's blessings?
May I suggest that it takes a conscious effort. It simply takes time.
The time it takes is not the time until some future moment. It takes the time now. We are taught to "pray continuously," "pray morning, noon, and night," "pray before meals," "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."
Many will pray this Thanksgiving. The prayers will vary from some standard form of prayer, to individual, spontaneous prayers. Many will acknowledge those prayers by saying "Amen" when the prayer has been said. And then dishes of food will be passed; many Americans will feast that day, in some cases consuming so much that they literally groan from fullness. Others will be thankful for the charity of a free meal. Others will go hungry, again, with little that they might seem to feel that they can be thankful for. To them, life itself may seem an unbearable burden.
Not all will be joyful on a Thanksgiving Day. Some of us will be ill, even dying. Some will be far from home and loved ones, in dangerous circumstances with lives hanging in the balance. Others will be performing essential services, so that the many of us will have electricity, light, water, heat, safety, and each of the services those individuals provide for.
Thanksgiving Day will come, and pass....celebrated or not. Another day will follow which many Americans call "Black Friday," a day so many dedicate to a materialism at sharp contrast to the spiritual nature of being thankful just the day before.
It will be hard in such circumstances to continue to focus on being thankful for all our many blessings, blessings of freedom, of justice, of a shared citizenship and brotherhood, and all the personal blessings we so often take for granted.
The blessings may endure, our attentiveness and thankfulness may fade.
Here in America we formally celebrate a holiday intended as a day of thanksgiving. It is one of 365 or 366 days of the year.
We will be happier, healthier, and even more blest, if we can sustain an "attitude of gratitude" in each of the days ahead, even being thankful for the ongoing gift of those days which are to come.
When Thanksgiving Day ends, there will be 32 days before many Americans will celebrate Christmas Day. These can be wonderful, thoughtful days, days when we count our many blessings and think of them one by one. Or we can get caught up in their hustle and bustle, and lose sight of what we thought of, prayed for, and felt on Thanksgiving Day.
That choice is a personal one, one we make for ourselves.
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Copyright 2012 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.
One American being thankful....
- Things About America I am Thankful For
This is a list of one American's things about America for which he is thankful. It is a mixed list with an element of hope for the future.
The start of a list....
- A Few Things I Am Thankful For
Make a list of some of the things you are thankful for, and then compare it with some of the things I am thankful for. How many match? Are there some things you haven't thought about in awhile?
A true recounting of fulfilled wishes:
- Wishing Makes It So
Can wishing make it so? Is wishing just another form of prayer? How can we explain, if there is no such thing as "coincidence", the fulfillment of so many of our wishes...even unexpressed ones? Here is a true story of such wishes.
