So. Thanksgiving.
Hallmark moment holiday…family conflict benchmark…dietary purity challenge…mega shopping opportunity…?
But no! We can flip the moneychanger’s tables right out of the temple to transform Thanksgiving as usual through a mindful practice of Gratitude. We can choose to bring the Power of Gratitude as a spiritual Principle to this year’s table…in homes, communities, our country…and on our planet.
Poet Annie Dillard comments on Christianity’s practical ignorance of the divinity we so regularly invoke in sermon, song and prayer:
“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?
The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning…we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”
We come, we hug, we sing, we listen, we give, we eat; and mostly go right back to business as usual in the “real” world. But a Gratitude practice can be the TNT that explodes separation, judgment and despair over our human family’s present squabbles. It is a Power-Play to heal ourselves and our world.
Paraphrasing Butterworth in Discover The Power Within (caps, bolding and parentheses are mine):
“THANKSGIVING is more than a reactionary emotion, more than an emotional reaction to present blessing or a response to what is happening.
It is CAUSATIVE ENERGY (BLAM!)
A choice, a stand, a CELEBRATION of TRUTH (WOO-HOO!)
A CAUSAL ASSURANCE of the continuity of blessings (MIKE DROP!)
It is an energy we stir up and appropriate from within… It is not for God but a state of consciousness which flows from connection with the Source of All within. When we claim kinship with the creative Love which sustains all, we align with, step into the divine flow.
As this Love/thanksgiving flows from within, it becomes causative, unfolding God’s good in our world.”
OK breathe…Yes it’s a lot.
And yes, it is within our divine DNA to wield the power of Gratitude to heal our world. Beyond all the scientifically proven physical and psychological benefits of gratitude there is this secret, the core Truth of what we are and what is ours to do. Right here, right now.
Seeing, being, and claiming what we are…that’s the root of gratitude. When we see from the sacred rather than solely from the secular, we tap into the energy of the one Power and Presence, the Love and creative process of God.
We stand in the Light of Love, we claim and accept the Divine that is a constant gift. We are grateful, full of the great goodness of Be-ing. We forgive “in all things” and give our divine “allness” instead of judgment and separation. We light the world (Hey, Jesus said!) with the TNT of our spiritual Power.
So what’s it gonna be this year? Hallmark pretty or Power-play? Holiday flaw or Holy Flow? Caloric mayhem or Wisdom moment? Commercial bust or spiritually blessed?
We all get to decide. And this Thanksgiving is an excellent time to get on with it.
Here’s a Unitized gratitude prayer from an anonymous Sunday bulletin that is a favorite of mine. Very Principle #5.
We give thanks for places of simplicity and peace.
We find that place within ourselves.
We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty.
We find that place within ourselves.
We give thanks for places of nature’s truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all creatures may find acceptance and belonging.
We open to seeing these places in the world, in ourselves and in others. We restore them.
We strengthen and protect them and proactively create them.
We mend this outer world according to the truth of our inner lives and our souls are shaped and nourished by the Divine in us and by nature’s eternal wisdom.
Happy Holiday all!
Maggie Rosche, LUT
Unity of Melbourne Florida