Echoes of Thanksgiving

Sometimes, it is hard for me to let go of Thanksgiving, a holiday which I think we sometimes put aside too quickly. Maybe it's O.K. to take some of the spirit of Thanksgiving into the Christmas season.

On November 30, Sister Cox talked in church about the Pilgrims and their thankful attitude for blessings small and great - from 5 kernels of corn per day per person during the first winter to greater bounty later on. Her talk reminded me of something The Anchoress (a Catholic blogger) said about Thanksgiving:

". . . it is the humble, ordinary things - the things we take for granted, that give us mobility, opportunity, self-sufficiency, expression - we rarely think to be grateful for those things.

I realized once, while at prayer, that real joy and contentment in life is not possible - cannot be possible - without real gratitude. Unless you really KNOW what you have, how can you appreciate it, and if you do not appreciate your life how can you be joyful?

I used to volunteer at a local hospital, visiting patients, seeing what they needed, praying with them if they wanted that, and I ended up working particularly with those coming back from brain injuries. One day I realized…I can dress myself, I can feed myself. I can stir my cup of coffee and raise it to my lips, all by myself. My hand does not shake; I do not need someone to raise the cup for me, or slip a straw into it. I do not need anyone to wipe my lips for me.

I do not have to wait for someone to come to me and guess my need, before my thirst is quenched.

It was a revelation to me, to consider how ungrateful I had been for those things. They are not little things. They are everything, as any of the patients I had visited would have told me.

There is much to be grateful for, in every life - even in those lives which we think of as “lacking” in quality - if one person loves us or treats us with kindness and dignity, we are blessed.

I thank my God for all good things, and even for the things and circumstances that do not always immediately seem to fall into the category of 'good.' I trust. I hope. I believe. I thank."

Thanksgiving to Christmas music:

The surprising history of the hymn, We Gather Together. More on this hymn and Dutch history and religious freedom.

Here's a simple, contemporary version of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Different from the full choir and orchestra version we've come to love.