THANKSGIVING

"If the only prayer you ever say in your life is Thank You, it will be enough." - Meister Eckhart

Tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving. It is a time when, for some reason, people eat turkey and pumpkin pie. Nobody really knows why, we just do. Turkeys all across this land tremble.

But more than the scarfing of a bird, it is a time when we reflect on gratitude. It originates from the earliest settlers giving thanks for the bounty of their non-genetically-modified harvest.

I'll drink to that!

Here's where it gets a bit squiffy: we don't harvest. We go to the grocery store. And most of us, don't even think about whether or not we've the cash to buy all the food we need, and a lot of food that we don't need. We just buy it. Rarely do we consider that a weekly task for us is something most people in the world would only dream of.

We bring it home and stuff it into our refrigerators, unaware that actually owning one of those appliances is beyond luxury.

We do all this in a country where our rights and freedoms are sacred and defended by a people who stand for acceptance and tolerance; a country with a world reputation for peace-keeping.

What I'm trying to say is this: I almost didn't write this post because I didn't know where to start in terms of what I'm thankful for. That in itself, is the reason I had to write this.

There is something worth discussing in all this: in cultures where we have so much, why is there so little gratitude? Cultures that are unspeakably poor still find children squealing with delight over a bicycle tire they found, that they can still make bump along the road. Women still laugh, even though they've lost their husbands to civil war, and their children have had to become soldiers. We think of these societies as 'undeveloped'.

They have so much to teach us.

I'm grateful that my children are picky eaters, for there are many who shovel down anything that they find because they don't know if there will be another meal.

I'm grateful that the Big Girl changes her outfit three times a day - causing more laundry and mess. It reminds me that I can provide clothing for her so that she never knows real want, and that all I have to do is toss something into a machine, not beat the clothes on a rock in an unclean river.

I'm grateful that Husband is away on business, because I know he isn't fighting in a war, I know he will return to us. He is away for a long time, but it means he's earning a living and he's doing a job he loves and that he's good at. Many women never see their husbands because they've fled their country and don't know when, if ever, they'll be reunited.

I'm grateful for the chores - it reminds me that I have a home.

I'm grateful for work - it gives me purpose and challenges me in exactly the way I need. And almost every day I say a silent thank you to the dear friend who helped me find this job, who knew, even before I did, that I was called to teach.

I'm grateful for those of you who read this - you validate me and make me feel as though I've something worthy to say. The only words to express my gratitude for that feeling are: thank you.

Even within this culture of abundance, there are those for whom gratitude may be hard to find. When you have lost someone you love, you know that all that you have means very little compared to a person.

Some things in my life have brought me to my knees - and they all taught me something about gratitude; that the heart is ripped open for consciousness to be born. When that happens, you bleed until you think there is nothing left inside you. Your soul can be crushed, your spirit buried deep, but there is always a tiny light that shines. When the time is right, a tender shoot of hope will appear. If you nurture it, it will grow.

And when it does, you are grateful.

You have been granted the best gift of all: the gift of a grateful heart.