It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., a day dedicated to family, friends, and food; parade, football, and shopping. Let’s play a children’s game – which of these is not like the other?
Thankfulness, I have found, is like a muscle. When I exercise it, it grows stronger, i.e more frequent and easier. The more I am thankful the more things I recognize I’m thankful for.
Curiously, in the circles I am surrounded with, the thankful things tend to belong to the 1st world: house, food, things that money can buy, travel, safety,…These are things that much of the world does not experience in any kind of abundance. The bridge between my usual world and the rest of the world I have found is relationships – family – friends.
No matter where I go in this world – Haiti, Guatemala, Appalachia, U.S. Indian Reservation, Russia, Estonia, Qatar, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico – or across the street or to another U.S. state – it’s relationships that are common to us all.
As you in the U.S. give thanks this year – and friends, colleagues, and acquaintances around the world join in – let me encourage you to think outside the usual box. Where are your relationships good – and you are thankful? Where are they not so good – and what can you do to take a step toward wholeness?
Each new day is an opportunity to grow a relationship, repair a relationship, honor a past relationship, and create new relationships. I’m thankful for the chance.