FROM GIVING THANKS TO LIVING THANKS

(Orig, 11/21/22   Rev. 11/20/24)

First in a series of reprints from past posts. It seems timely to start with giving thanks to all of you who have read my blogs for the past 12 years.  Additions and/or revisions to the original will be noted in italics.  My hope is you will enjoy reading these as much or more than I have enjoyed writing them. For some it will be a first and for others, a repetition.  One of my criteria for choosing which ones to post again is what seems to have resonated with the greatest number of readers.  Please feel free to leave a comment or to share with others. 

Making a transition from giving thanks to living thanks is a short walk across the bridge.  On one side is where we give thanks, say thanks, and show gratitude for that which has been given to us whether material gifts that can be seen and felt, or friendships and love, which we cannot hold in our hands, but which we hold in our hearts.

On the other side is where we live thanks, how we approach each new day with that attitude of gratitude that we have yet another day.  When we see each new day as a gift, one that we receive, open, embrace and celebrate, the question is how will we spend this day in a spirit of gratitude?  Every breath we take in is a gift to exhale gratitude.  It is that small and it is that large.  What that means is that we look at what lies before us as an opportunity to be grateful in what we are doing and to choose what kinds of feelings accompany us along the way.  We have a choice to be conscious and intentional or to focus on the external without much attention to the internal.

Here are some suggestions for your consideration, a daily exercise.

• Start the day with thanks for being alive.  It may be a few words or more, lifted up to your Creator Spirit whatever you might call it.

• See what opportunities might be waiting for you to explore further during this day where you offer the best of who you are.

• Be open to being surprised by grace, something or someone unexpected crossing your path that invites you to be an active participant.

• As the day moves on, take time to stop for a few moments and reflect where you have been, what you have done, the kinds of tracks you have left behind.

• Listen to what someone says and then listen for what they might not be saying. Similar to reading between the lines, listen beyond the words.

• Consider a task or job that has to be done an invitation, not an imperative demand.

• Choose how you might look at the most mundane from a different perspective, one of gratitude for being given the opportunity.

• As the day comes to a close, end it the same way you began, by saying, giving, breathing thanks, a day wrapped in the arms of gratitude.

Life is, after all, one day at a time and one day after another.  All we know for sure is that thus far, we have today.  Tell yourself that you will make the most and best of it that you can.

Gratitude provides more fuel for the journey, infusing our lives with energy to move forward to embrace new opportunities for growth.  As we become more grateful human beings, we evolve more into our humanity, with more capacity for caring, compassion and community.

For those of you who know me, you know my affection and gratitude for Elie Wiesel whom I had the privilege of meeting in 1980.  I have used some of his more familiar quotations often to illustrate a point about taking sides and not being silent in the face of hateful opposition.  I was not familiar with these words of his and I a glad to share them now here with you.

“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.”