Thankfulness

So much to be thankful for, even when I don’t feel like being thankful.

I’m am thankful that gratitude as a way of life, mind and spirit makes me happier and healthier.

But, gratitude as a way of life has hardly been a secret through the years.

Thanksgiving is the one holiday that rarely disappoints.

Doesn’t require much more than just showing up.

You just have to come with an appetite, invite friends and family, and then fall asleep on the couch.

But Thanksgiving actually is the most rigorous of all holidays — by taking the day at its word, its founding purpose, I can make it the most spiritual and potentially life changing day!

Kinda tough to be thankful when you still see too many friends and neighbors out of work including myself. When people are losing their homes. When Wall Street is rewarding Wall Street, as the rest of the country waits for the recovery, any recovery, to trickle down.

So, in a world where greed, divorce, employment can cause you to hang your head in despair, what’s there to be thankful for?

Thankfulness takes some discipline, admittedly, but it has a definite upside. And it's more than just positive thinking.

Some say grateful people are happier, more optimistic, less stressed, less materialistic, more physically active, more spiritually aware, more humble.

The principle has always been at work within my life: In everything, give thanks. When in doubt, give thanks.

Grateful people are often people who have suffered, experienced painful losses

Funny, isn’t it, how people who are showered with material blessings or gifted with physical beauty or superior talents often seem to take these things for granted, or just want more?

The Bible says, “For everything give thanks.” Counter intuitive and revolutionary — because anyone can give thanks when everything is going well.

Thanks …

For waking up.

For two eyes.

For a semi healthy life.

For a roof over my head.

Thanks for another day.

Thanks to my family, who puts up with me despite my many shortcomings.

Thanks for the gift of nieces, who are learning these things themselves from there solid parents.

For that small voice within, that chance again, no matter the circumstances.

For freedom of speech — and freedom to write something like this.

For living as long as I have.

For the solitude of late-autumn. The color of leaves. The color of twilight.

The opportunity to teach children towards their future.

For the freedom to worship Jesus.

For forgiveness and grace — because I need both every minute and every day.

And having both, why wouldn’t I be thankful?