Thanksgiving is less than a week away. For most of us it will be a day robust with family, friends, food, football…and more food.
Thanksgiving is a holiday of overflowing enjoyment and celebration. Alas, lost in our celebration, save possibly when those gathered collectively bow heads in prayer momentarily before dining, is the appropriate reflection of gratitude that was the initial foundation for this holiday. It has been said that the Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. Few Americans were more impoverished or challenged than these, but nevertheless, they set aside a day for giving thanks, not for their worldly richness but for their spiritual abundance which spurred their indefeasible hope for each day, past, present, and ahead.
According to data published this year in Global Issues, The Human Development Report, 50% of our world population lives on less than $2.50 per day and 80% live on less than $10 per day! It is hard to conceive that literally billions of our fellow human beings would consider what we will scrape off our plates and throw away on Thanksgiving Day to be a feast. This begs the question, have we become so blessed with riches that we have lost our ability to truly appreciate the enormity of our bounty? As some wise man once wrote, “Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.”
It might seem a contradiction that having much often leads to insensitivity as to what truly qualifies as abundance, but actually throughout history it seems that those who have the least are most grateful for what they have. One vivid example of this is Anne Frank, the little Jewish girl who with her family and others hid in a cramped Amsterdam attic space for two years in a vain attempt to escape the Nazi Holocaust. Who could blame her if she embraced ingratitude for her plight and circumstance? Yet she wrote, “I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.”
Nothing would be more appropriate on this coming day of thanksgiving as we overfill our plates with delicious nutriment than to equally overfill our hearts with gratitude for the freedom, bounty and blessings that have been so richly bestowed upon us.
For hearts that are kindly, with virtue and peace,
and not seeking blindly a hoard to increase;
for those who are grieving o’er life’s sordid plan;
for souls still believing in heaven and man;
for homes that are lowly with love at the board;
for things that are holy, I thank thee, O Lord!
John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” That is so true. The essence of gratitude is always adhering to the principle that we truly give thanks by giving. Here is a heartwarming story of gratitude and thanks written by author, Steve Goodier that exemplifies this point. It is shared with the hope that it will fan the spark of sacredness that lies within each of us into a flame of perpetual and proactive thanks giving.
The Hand
At first it sounded like a Thanksgiving story, but the more I reflected on it, the more appropriate it seemed for any time of the year. The way I heard it, the story went like this:
Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun assignment — to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.
Most of the class might be considered economically disadvantaged, but still many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the subjects of most of her student’s art. And they were.
But Douglas made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of misery, frail and unhappy. As other children played at recess, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those sad eyes.
Yes, his picture was different. When asked to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an empty hand.
His abstract image captured the imagination of his peers. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police protect and care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God, for God feeds us. And so the discussion went — until the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.
When the children had gone on to other assignments, she paused at Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and murmured, “It’s yours, teacher.”
She recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here or there, as she had the other students. How often had she said, “Take my hand, Douglas, we’ll go outside.” Or, “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” Or, “Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most thankful for his teacher’s hand.
Brushing aside a tear, she went on with her work.
The story speaks of more than thankfulness. It says something about teachers teaching and parents parenting and friends showing friendship, and how much it means to the Douglases of the world. They might not always say thanks. But they’ll remember the hand that reaches out.
And finally, I will leave you with…
A Prayer of Thanksgiving
By: Robert Louis Stevenson
Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell;
for the love that unites us;
for the peace accorded us this day;
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies,
that make our lives delightful;
and for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Let peace abound in our small company.
Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge.
Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere.
Give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders.
Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully
the forgetfulness of others.
Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind.
Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.
Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors.
If it may not, give us the strength to encounter
that which is to come,
that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation,
temperate in wrath,
and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death,
loyal and loving one to another.
Have an AWE-full Thanks/Giving holiday filled with humble gratitude for the plenty we too often take for granted!
P.S. I will be off on Thursday and Friday of next week and as such will not be sending out my next Weekly Inspiration until Friday, November 30th.
William J. “Bill” Bacque’