Here it is again, the holiday whose job it is to remind us to be thankful. And perhaps we need the yearly reminder, just in case we have forgotten. Holiday music is playing, turkeys and the trimmings are being purchased, family plans are being made, and underneath it all is the hope that somehow we can remember to give thanks.
As much as we may look forward to the break in our normal routine, the food that is likely to overfill our bellies, and the communion with people we love, there is the reminder to pause and give thanks. Give thanks for what is and for what isn’t. Give thanks for what we have and for what we don’t have.
Practice giving thanks until you become a thankful person. Practice giving thanks until you are expansive and generous in your being, until everything becomes an opportunity to say, “thank you.”
May Thanksgiving remind each of us to practice cultivating the act of giving thanks.