Gratitude, A Cure for What Ails You
It feels like the world is coming undone: mass shootings, sexual harassments and assaults, opioid crisis, refugees seeking safety, partisan ranker, political corruption, social/economic disparity, climate change knocking at our door with hurricanes, extreme storms, droughts and fires! Don McLean described it well back in my youth in his song "American Pie." "Bad news on the doorstep. I can't take one more step." So it seems when listening to the "breaking news" of the moment.
Of the span of human history, we have just a few decades of global communication and awareness. We live in a global village. Our psyches have little experience bearing the onslaught of negativity. The shoulders of my psyche are too thin to carry the weight of the world's pain. Nor likely is the psyche of anyone else. Yet, we are now connected with the global village news with all its tales of woe. While more and more forfeit participation in church or community of faith. No wonder so many persons struggle with depression, self medicate with alcohol and drug of choice. To cope, we deny, we rationalize, we compartmentalize, we retreat into ourselves and into our privilege. Life has always been a challenge. The Genesis story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and expulsion from the garden of Eden is told to explain the human struggle of life (Genesis 3). Life is hard.
But this week, we pause to give thanks for our blessings. I am grateful for many things: for my generally good health for my age; for my loving wife and marriage; for our children launched and settling into adult lives; for the unconditional love and support of extended family; for the rich memories of a fulfilling career in ministry and for friends and colleagues from so many unique and wonderful places; for a less stressful work life now; for the new friends I am making now in the congregation I serve and for its members and mission; for colleagues who support, challenge and inspire me; for my home and community; for a great public library, for the music, theater and arts; for the farmers markets, orchards, wineries, breweries, and farm to table chefs/restaurants; for the nature preserves, walking and biking trails, and lakes within minutes of my house; for internet access to the world at my fingertips. I am blessed and grateful.
Life is hard, but perspective makes a difference. The world does not revolve narcissitically around any one of us. The snow storm does not care if we get to work or not. Bumps along the road are a given, its a matter of how we face them. Adolescent struggle in coming of age is a universal nightmare. Bearing children and parenting them is no picnic. Community life is not easy. Successful careers are synonymous with stress. Home ownership is expensive requiring maintenance seemingly at the most inopportune time. Roofs and appliances wear out, plumbing gets clogged, electrical wiring gets brittle and dangerous, as do our body parts. Aging is not for sissies. Yet these are the very blessings we idealize and celebrate: children, youthfulness, family, community, professional success, long life.
Thanksgiving is a perspective correction. There may be a million things we want and don't have. The irony of Thanksgiving is the mad dash of Black Friday? There is nothing wrong with human aspiration, but Thanksgiving turns our focus around to the blessings we do have and being grateful. After a tough year, to pause and see that we have survived, received the help of neighbors in the time of need, lived to tell our story AND BE GRATEFUL.
Thanksgiving can also lead to compassionate end of grabbing for more, of letting go of privilege, of stockpiling our security, and sharing the blessings. Too much of what is wrong in the world is the greedy grab for and holding onto one's privilege, of never wanting to be needful or in any pain. It's said that the problem in solving poverty is not in our ability to feed the poor, but satisfying the cravings of the rich. Yet our only true security is in God and in the community we build together. Some preach a prosperity gospel. I preach a gospel of Jesus Christ, a gospel of enough. Jesus taught that in God's household/economy there is enough for everyone.
So I give thanks for today's prophets, poets, insightful novelists, artists, and reporters who see and tell the truth, which I in my own little world often miss, a sad truth that my blessings sometimes come at the expense of others who go without. I give thanks for advocates for the poor, the homeless, the mentally and physically challenged, people of color marginalized by systems which oppress. I give thanks for activists who shake up and disturb my peace, and agitate for remedial action, once called repentance; for community organizers who build power for change by organizing people and money. I give thanks for a God who does not condemn, but comes among us and who suffers with us in love.
Finally this year, I give thanks for my dog Flicka, my walking companion for the past 13 1/2 years and my kitten Hershey. Flicka started limping back in June and let me know she didn't want to walk as fast and as far. In August she stopped walking completely except to get to her feed bowl to eat and to do her business. Four weeks ago we noticed a growth on her shoulder, which emerged seemingly overnight. Our Vet confirmed she has an aggressive malignant tumor. Steroids and painkillers keep her going. She is completely deaf, is near blind with cataracts, her back legs are very weak. She shakes to squat. She struggles to stand up, and often stumbles and falls. Yet she puts up with our new kitten, Hershey, who runs circles around her, and plays with with her tail. She still insists on stumbling down the basement stairs to join us in our family room. We have to help her back up the stairs. She lives to be close to us... and to EAT! Our house is combination of kitten kindergarten filled with cat toys to distract from destroying our furniture, and an old dog geriatric ward. In these two pets, we have the gifts of youth and age, of spitfire speed and aging creep, of youthful exuberance, and steadfast loving loyalty. Our pets teach us to love and grieve, and to be thankful.
For all these, I give thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Of the span of human history, we have just a few decades of global communication and awareness. We live in a global village. Our psyches have little experience bearing the onslaught of negativity. The shoulders of my psyche are too thin to carry the weight of the world's pain. Nor likely is the psyche of anyone else. Yet, we are now connected with the global village news with all its tales of woe. While more and more forfeit participation in church or community of faith. No wonder so many persons struggle with depression, self medicate with alcohol and drug of choice. To cope, we deny, we rationalize, we compartmentalize, we retreat into ourselves and into our privilege. Life has always been a challenge. The Genesis story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and expulsion from the garden of Eden is told to explain the human struggle of life (Genesis 3). Life is hard.
But this week, we pause to give thanks for our blessings. I am grateful for many things: for my generally good health for my age; for my loving wife and marriage; for our children launched and settling into adult lives; for the unconditional love and support of extended family; for the rich memories of a fulfilling career in ministry and for friends and colleagues from so many unique and wonderful places; for a less stressful work life now; for the new friends I am making now in the congregation I serve and for its members and mission; for colleagues who support, challenge and inspire me; for my home and community; for a great public library, for the music, theater and arts; for the farmers markets, orchards, wineries, breweries, and farm to table chefs/restaurants; for the nature preserves, walking and biking trails, and lakes within minutes of my house; for internet access to the world at my fingertips. I am blessed and grateful.
Life is hard, but perspective makes a difference. The world does not revolve narcissitically around any one of us. The snow storm does not care if we get to work or not. Bumps along the road are a given, its a matter of how we face them. Adolescent struggle in coming of age is a universal nightmare. Bearing children and parenting them is no picnic. Community life is not easy. Successful careers are synonymous with stress. Home ownership is expensive requiring maintenance seemingly at the most inopportune time. Roofs and appliances wear out, plumbing gets clogged, electrical wiring gets brittle and dangerous, as do our body parts. Aging is not for sissies. Yet these are the very blessings we idealize and celebrate: children, youthfulness, family, community, professional success, long life.
Thanksgiving is a perspective correction. There may be a million things we want and don't have. The irony of Thanksgiving is the mad dash of Black Friday? There is nothing wrong with human aspiration, but Thanksgiving turns our focus around to the blessings we do have and being grateful. After a tough year, to pause and see that we have survived, received the help of neighbors in the time of need, lived to tell our story AND BE GRATEFUL.
Thanksgiving can also lead to compassionate end of grabbing for more, of letting go of privilege, of stockpiling our security, and sharing the blessings. Too much of what is wrong in the world is the greedy grab for and holding onto one's privilege, of never wanting to be needful or in any pain. It's said that the problem in solving poverty is not in our ability to feed the poor, but satisfying the cravings of the rich. Yet our only true security is in God and in the community we build together. Some preach a prosperity gospel. I preach a gospel of Jesus Christ, a gospel of enough. Jesus taught that in God's household/economy there is enough for everyone.
So I give thanks for today's prophets, poets, insightful novelists, artists, and reporters who see and tell the truth, which I in my own little world often miss, a sad truth that my blessings sometimes come at the expense of others who go without. I give thanks for advocates for the poor, the homeless, the mentally and physically challenged, people of color marginalized by systems which oppress. I give thanks for activists who shake up and disturb my peace, and agitate for remedial action, once called repentance; for community organizers who build power for change by organizing people and money. I give thanks for a God who does not condemn, but comes among us and who suffers with us in love.
For all these, I give thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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