An Attitude of Gratitude

I have a lot.  I can't take credit for it.  I am very blessed.  I am super grateful! 

Sometimes I wonder, has Thanksgiving been reduced to eating and football and Black Friday ads?  The holiday seems to be caricatured with buckled hats and feathers, turkeys, and cornucopias of food.  And of course, the narration of things and people for which we are thankful. 

Today, hanging out after work to attend mass for Thanksgiving, I am caught up thinking about the act of giving thanks.  I feel it is a privilege to attend mass to thank God for all my blessings, though I will be pleasantly surprised if more than twenty others feel the same way at 6 pm the night before game day - turkey day - or whatever.  But curiosity is getting the better of me. 

At least this one day, we seem to get the part about being thankful for stuff.  But then I wonder to whom people give their thanks?  Surely there will be lots of thanks to the cooks in the kitchen, but the whole chain of gratitude keeps traveling back to the Source, right?  It makes me wonder who people thank for all their stuff, for all their family and friends, for their blessings.

I'm certainly thankful to God for my family and friends, for a roof over my head and food on the table, for a job that affords me a great many more things.  I'm thankful for all the tasks and trials Thomas and I share building a house together, as they help us to practice patience, to be grateful for the things that go right, to care for each other better, to celebrate the accomplishments along the way, to learn how to accept our faults, and to appreciate all the time and labor our friends and family have contributed to it.  I'm thankful for many trips to see family and friends out of town, the trips they've made to see me, and the trips I only have to take "across town" to celebrate with family and friends here.  I am grateful for the people no longer with us, those lives that remain a memory in my heart.  I am grateful for the miracles I've witnesses or heard about this year, especially Mighty Max.  And hard as it might be, I have to thank God for the struggles that teach me to be a better prayer, to be more faithful, to trust in God's plan.

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough."  Meister Eckhart

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/meistereck149158.html#tZiWyILjLRSruHjL.99

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/meistereck149158.html#tZiWyILjLRSruHjL.99