Category: Thanksgiving

Thankful

It’s time to assess your blessings. They might not be as apparent as you think. Many blessings are so common to living that you could take them for granted. These are the blessings to be considered most of all, for it’s in the common spaces that you find grace.

Will you say grace at your table this Thanksgiving? As you gather among others around a bountiful dinner or simply sit alone with a morsel of sustenance remember one important fact: you are here on this earth by God’s will to live humbly and do good works for your fellow humankind. You are not on earth to resist or to impress.

The ability to resist is the furthest action from grace. You might ask how can this be? Why wouldn’t you resist a tyrant? This perspective is incorrect. Resistance is trouble to your own soul. The correct approach is to acknowledge the presence of the perceived tyrant, assess their actual control over you and to make changes in your life to free yourself from those feelings that prevent you from making divinely inspired gains in your own self. This pursuit of happiness is unique to each individual and can only be taken from you if your soul is burdened by resistance. Sounds like Yoda speak! Well, it is. It’s a circle meant to bring you wholeness. And in that wholeness you will find grace.

Amen

The ability to impress offers a similar trouble to your soul. Your desire to make another person admire and respect you is in itself a tyrannical act. Admiration and respect is earned by your own good works regardless of the views of others. Our communities offer countless ways to showcase your time and talents. You don’t have to say ‘Yes’ to everything and everyone, you simply need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses to apply yourself effectively and with confidence…This humble light of good works will shine brightly for all to see and bring peace to your soul.

The serenity prayer comes to mind as a way to live with grace: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Be thankful. God’s blessings are bountiful.

God is For Giving

Ah the Holidays! Traditions that give our existence in the United States a meaning that goes beyond the words we know as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year. And meaning is so very important to the human species…We all know these dates exist in earthly time, and attached to these dates there are national as well as religious and family traditions, but reverence is definitely the central theme for them all.

Reverence is a showing of deep respect. The Holidays during November through December allow us to set aside time in our lives to dwell on this deep respect. But what or who are we to be respectful of or to? Think about this for a moment, if we secularize these special days then why would respect ever enter into any part of a holiday’s recognition or tradition? The truth is, these are holy days and the secular has no place in them.

God is Love

Oh sure, Thanksgiving can be about turkey, Christmas and Hanukkah about lights and gifts, Kwanzaa about community, and New Years about starting anew. We can even give a “sinister” new meaning to them as Thanksgiving has unfortunately acquired because of our ability to associate current human progress with past human realities…Hindsight is always 20/20.

But a nation needs its traditions in order to build upon its positive communal spirit. And the best way to build a positive communal spirit is to give joy and love to our gatherings. God as the “Great Creator” is the silver lining of our most profound loss and the essence of everlasting Love. To revere God is to give the greatest gift of all which is compassion. A nation that builds upon Godly traditions is at its most compassionate. Secular traditions eventually become divisive because there is no unifying principle to humble the communal spirit. Turkeys, evergreen trees, presents, candles and ball-drops are not unifying principles!

Because God is forgiving, God is for giving. Our nation’s year-end celebrations are meaningful because God has shown us the way. May we be blessed enough to know this Love, respect it, and share it always.