Do you read this title as an action phrase? Consider yourselves challenged this month to make ‘thanksgiving blessing’ the focus of every action, interaction and thought.
Surely we have business to consider, preparations to make, events to oversee and problems: real, contrived, and unexpected to face! Life is busy, difficult and wonderful every day and there are many nights when I hit the pillow pretty hard! But, by the grace of God, I have been given a wonderful string of almost 54 years of wakeful mornings to use by my choice; God’s hope that I would offer kindness to others and include a nod in God’s direction somewhere in the midst.
This month I am hopeful for my own life and yours to include an expanded awareness and practice of ‘thanksgiving blessing’ as a practice of kindness to myself and others and as a nod to God that indeed God is with me in the midst of my life.
Thanksgiving, a mindfulness of gratitude, triggers such powerful perspective rotation on people and situations that might otherwise cause us unnecessary angst.
A thankful heart is freed from judging, worrying, anticipating, or feeling unfulfilled because there is only gratitude for whatever is. And, out of that true sense of gratitude emerges expanded understanding, patience, joy and insight into whatever is and is to come.
Followed by blessing, thanksgiving gets affirmed as okay, as enough, as good in what otherwise might feel unsure or not enough.
Blessing is the approving action that encourages us and what we’re thinking and doing.
Just think how your workdays will benefit from offering thanksgiving blessing to that frustrating meeting you just had or that deadline that looms or those internal worries about your job performance!
Just think for a moment about your interactions with family and friends; how rich will the coming days be when your thanksgiving blessing surrounds those who don’t meet your expectations or who unintentionally cause harm?
Just think for a moment about the depth of our worship as our collective thanksgiving blessing! Our action offered up to the God whose unconditional love for ALL then welcomes our praise and encourages our joy as we strive to be God’s people in this new way, together!
Let us begin this holiday time of year with thanksgiving blessing firmly placed as our first line of practiced response. I look forward to hearing your stories of ‘thanksgiving blessing’ moments in the days ahead.
Friends, receive thanksgiving blessing from the depth of my heart for the joy, the tears, the growing and the learning that we experience in this family of faith!
Pastor Kelly