dual personalities

“Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

So November is almost over. Advent starts this Sunday! Have I been successful in my effort to be more consciously thankful? I think so.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things.”

This is so true. And, hey, what we may think of as small things are probably the Big Things. There are many, many things to be grateful for, but these are the main five in my book.

1. Home and family–so easy to take for granted–but my ordinary life is quite wonderful.

2. A church home: Isn’t it wonderful (to borrow a phrase) to have some place to go “where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came”?

3. Work: I am personally so grateful to have a job that I actually like and where I feel I am making a small difference.

4. Health–One of those things that I don’t really appreciate until I am sick or my knee hurts–so it takes some effort to think, hey, I feel pretty good today!

5. An inquiring mind: It’s so important to exercise this gift every day along with that not-so-athletic body! And there is also this:

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

So in these waning days of November as we ready ourselves for the festive national holiday of Thanksgiving, let us actually give thanks!