What Does It Mean to Be Thankful?

What does it mean to be thankful?

Being thankful begins with community. It means knowing we cannot do it alone, and that as much as we Americans worship freedom and doing things our way, we cannot do everything ourselves. There is no thanksgiving for those who need no one.

Second, being thankful requires awareness. It means looking closely at our lives and noticing how much we have been given. It means recognizing that Someone loves us enough to hold us in the tender hands of the universe and rock us back and forth, gazing into our eyes. Each moment of our lives is a gift waiting to be opened. This day, this hour, this second, has been given to us out of love. We can only be grateful if we recognize the gift.

Being thankful also means acceptance, acceptance that we have received much more than we could ever give back, and that we don’t need to give back to be loved. It means opening up our hearts to the gifts of the great God of the universe and letting them wash over us. Being thankful means putting aside our unworthiness, our inadequacies, our failings, and simply letting ourselves be loved.

Finally, being thankful means that we so appreciate what we have been given that we want to give of ourselves, we want to return the favor. We are only as grateful as we are generous.

So thank you, glorious God, thank you my beloved family, thank you my faithful friends, thank you everyone. You make my life beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving.