Appreciation can make a day,
even change a life.Your willingness to put it into words
is all that is necessary.
-Margaret Cousins
I would maintain
that thanks are the highest form of thought;and that gratitude
is happiness doubled by wonder.
-G.K. Chesterton
I am thankful.
Today and every day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I awoke this morning
with devout thanksgiving for my friends,
the old and the new.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
We have a family of deer that visit us every morning at daybreak. Day’s end and day’s middle, too, sometimes.
A mother and two fawns- but they’re pretty grown up now. How time flies.
Oh, we get other deer, too. I’ve counted as many as dozen at a time, but these three are “our” deer. In my heart, they belong to me.
It’s hunting season. Our property backs up to a nature preserve, and yes, hunting is permitted. I awaken daily to the far-off and not-so-far-off sounds of gunshots. Men clad in camouflage and bright orange- why both? Are you hiding or being seen?- walk around with their shotguns. (Handguns are permitted as well.) For these weeks it is like living in a war zone. It is surreal.
I am not against the hunting, not really. There are so many deer in the area; better to be hunted and brought down quickly than to starve over the winter or be hit by a car. Everyone I know, it seems, has hit or almost hit a deer.
In addition, many area hunters donate the venison to food banks. While I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this notion of people who hunt purely for the sport of it, I acknowledge their service to the community.
But each morning, watching the sun rise from my kitchen window, when I see movement in the brush, I hold my breath and count.
One…two…three. All present. The family is intact, whole, for the dawning of a new day.
It is silly, I know. But every day I am thankful.
What “silly” things are you thankful for today?
It is possible to give away and become richer.
Proverbs 11:24
“New government figures show that almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from the year before to mark the highest point since 1998.”
-The Huffington Post
That’s 2007. These numbers do not take into account the recent freefall of the economy.
And yet:
Americans Still giving, Despite Hard Times:
“A survey released this week by Federal Way, Wash.-based World Vision indicates that 2008 could actually be a better-than-usual Christmas for the nation’s charitable organizations.”
How can this be? I think the answer is this: Big companies, in the past, made big donations. (I won’t be cynical and say those donations were for tax reasons.) Those big companies are the ones currently suffering the biggest losses on Wall Street; therefore those donations are down.
Your average American, however, while facing belt-tightening, is acutely aware that while their situation may be difficult, someone, somewhere, is having a much more difficult time.
And so they give what they can. And these small amounts add up.
This gives me great hope.
This is a week for giving thanks; and I believe the best way to appreciate all that we have to give thanks for, is to acknowledge our capacity to give.
In this spirit, I am embarking on another 29-Day Giving Challenge; a commitment to give 29 gifts in 29 days. Starting today, and ending on Christmas Eve. Why? According to the founder, Cami Walker:
To inspire more generosity on our planet. Because to see our world change, we have to do something to change our world. Plus, the best way to attract abundance into your own life is to be in a perpetual state of giving and gratitude.
Gifts need not be monetary or even tangible; gifts of time, of kindness, and of patience are just as valuable.
My favorite part of this challenge, as I’ve said before (much of this post contains repeated content), is that it assures some space in your life to think: what can I give today?
Make a rule, and pray God to help you keep it,
never, if possible,
to lie down at night without being able to say,
“I have made one human being, at least,
a little wiser, a little happier, or a little better this day.”-Charles Kingsley
Will you join in the 29-Day Giving Challenge with me? Or will you pay it forward for me and blog about it, or tell a friend?
Imagine if everyone were to make this commitment during the holiday season: cultivating a vision of global generosity. Imagine what a difference that would make.
What a tremendous leap it would be towards realizing “peace on earth, good will toward men.”