Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite days of the year. Not just for the (many, many) pies, but for the impact giving thanks has had on my life. Every significant influence in my life has stressed the value and beauty of being grateful. It started for me with my father and mother. They raised six children in a quite small home in the country with quite limited means. Yet they were so very thankful for their blessings. Amazingly (all things considered), they included their children on that list of blessings!
My primary influencers of my adult personal and professional philosophies continued to reinforce the importance of gratitude. Jim Rohn, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, and Brian Tracey all claim with clear conviction that the key to having a richer life is to be grateful for what you have right now. And, as you might suspect, the Bible has some quite wonderful things to say about being thankful.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in Germany, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. His commitment to fight evil in his world extended to his willingness to die for his faith. Bonhoeffer died in a concentration camp days before that camp was liberated by the Allies in 1945. Among his writings is the quite wonderful quote on gratitude:
“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a
great deal more than we give, and that it is
only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
I pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I pray that you share your Thanksgiving with family and friends you love. I pray that your every day – in spite of the significant challenges this world places in front of you – is filled with gratitude for the blessing the Creator has given you.
And I pray that your Thanksgiving brings you pies! Many, many pies!
Please allow us to serve you and those you love.
Thank you,
Gene
P.S. What would you put on a list of blessings in your life? Perhaps – just to see what might happen – sit quietly with a sheet (maybe many sheets?) of paper and start your list. Then refill your coffee cup (or wine glass) and continue the list. I suspect your writing hand will get tired long before you run of things to be thankful for.
One of the things I am most thankful for in my life – is you.