Thanks-giving

Here’s opening essay to the fourth edition of my newsletter. To see the full newsletter, check out this and other issues here.

We often go through life saying, “Well, it could be worse,” because, in many cases, that’s true. I, for one, don’t want to contemplate a situation where that wouldn’t be true. But rather than acknowledging how not-so-bad a situation is, let’s all take a moment for gratitude. 

What would happen if we force ourselves to acknowledge just how well a situation turned out? Or how resilient we’ve been able to be? Or how much we learned? Or how we woke up today with another opportunity? We’re all going through the grinder that we call 2020. But we’re all still here, and that’s what’s important to remember. We’ve made it this far.

Now those of you who know me probably know I haven’t been a regular church-goer since I was kid. What’s more, as an Aries, I do wrath really well. So I’m not trying to get all Michael Bernard Beckwith on you here. But it’s also the week of Thanksgiving, and it’s a time when we can really stop and think about what we’re grateful for. Beckwith says, “You cannot bring anything new into your life until you are grateful for what you have now.”

Further to this point, Eric Butterworth, the late and noted teacher of “practical Christianity” reminds us, “Remember that the grateful heart is a great heart, which ultimately attracts to itself great things.”

We’re heading into a holiday season that will be more weird and different than any other we’ve experienced.  Stay safe, and try to enjoy it as much as you can.  One way we prepare to face uncertainty is to be grateful for what we have and for what we’ve come through.  I want everybody to be whole and well and ready for whatever’s next for each of us.  But in order to do that–as Butterworth pointed out–it’s important that “the thanksgiving comes first.”

Let’s go.