One of the things I love most about my thankful tradition is the familiarity of the liturgy. The same words that I spoke in worship as a child are still part of my weekly rituals now. And the final message, the words that are to carry me from one Sunday to the next, is one of thanksgiving.
While gratitude is a central part of my life because of my faith, I also realize it is an important part of what it means to be human. I often wonder what it would mean if thanksgiving carried all of us from one moment to the next, one day to the next, one expression of gratitude to the next.
One of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, offers this guidance: “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Her words strike me in both their simplicity and their depth. And perhaps these words provide a way to consider how thanksgiving can carry us through all of our days, inviting us to a life of gratitude.
Pay attention. Moments of grace and love are often easy for us to miss. We can all too easily have our schedules and our commitments consume our attention. A life filled with gratitude is one where we start by noticing the richness and fullness of all that surrounds us each day.
Believe it or not, one of the places I see this most tangibly is during early morning stops for coffee at Wawa. People intentionally wait to hold doors and thank those who have paused while waiting for their entry or exit from the store. It is the fullness of our humanity on display in the small glass vestibule of a convenience store as people notice each other, help each other, and give thanks. Recognizing the gifts that surround us can be as simple (and essential!) as our morning cup of coffee.
Be astonished. The wonder of gratitude is one of the greatest gifts of our human experience. We have the capacity to understand moments when “thank you” is insufficient and to hold hearts filled to overflowing with gratitude in our beings. This wonderment has the capacity to inspire us as much as it can be a balm to us in the places of our lives that need to be healed.
I don’t mean this in a thankfulness-will-overcome-terrible-things type of way. I do not believe that we should use gratitude as a means of trying to cover over the challenging, painful parts of life. No amount of thankfulness will lessen the difficult parts of life or even make them hurt less, but it can carry us through. It can be what gets us unstuck from the things that could otherwise consume us. It is not about a life that is either blessings or hardships, it is recognizing that both of those things will always be true. It means knowing that we have the capacity to hold and experience everything in life - including the joy of grateful hearts.
Tell about it. Giving thanks recognizes that there are things beyond our own selves. That there is a web of life and relationships that we are caught up in. And yet, this might be the hardest part of a life of thanksgiving as it requires a vulnerability and a trust that are not always easily found.
But like all things, the best way to begin is to start small. Record daily gratitudes in a journal. Text a friend. Chat with a neighbor. Call a relative. We do not need to engage in a giant platform, calling out all the good we might have encountered. The small and steady collection of moments and the opportunities to share them in meaningful ways surround us everyday. A life of gratitude is a lifelong journey.
And with that, we turn our eyes back to the beginning - to the invitation to pay attention. To start from that point of recognition of the goodness that surrounds us and the moments that fill us as we move from this day to the next. This is what it means to live and move in a life of gratitude, and to allow our thankfulness to carry us all the days of our lives.
It is the final moments of the weekly worship service at the congregation where I serve as a pastor. The final hymn starts and the worship leaders process out of the sanctuary. As the music ends the final words of our Sunday liturgy are spoken: “Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!”
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“Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
- Poet Mary Oliver
Know that we have the capacity to hold and experience everything in life - including the joy of grateful hearts.