This month in the United States, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. During this time of reflection and remembrance, we are called to acknowledge WHY WE ARE HERE, right now in this present moment. We are not here to fix, change or belittle another person. We are here to support, forgive and heal one another. As we are here, we are called to practice forgiveness, thankfulness, and gratefulness.

Thankfulness is one of the great avenues of the Spirit’s presence and power. When we give thanks, a door opens through which Spirit can work.

One of the most significant realizations about the act of thanksgiving is that it is a choice. We can give thanks when something happens, but we can also simply choose to be thankful. This provides an avenue through which our lives can change. Choosing to be grateful in the midst of a challenge is difficult, but it is a choice we can make.

During this month, may we each give thanks for our lives as we know them now, in this present moment.

A Pledge for Grateful Living

Provided by Bro. David Steindl-Rast

• In thanksgiving for life, I pledge to overcome the illusion of ENTITLEMENT by reminding myself that everything is a gift and, thus, to live GRATEFULLY.
• In thanksgiving for life, I pledge to overcome feelings of lack, a feeling that confuses wants with needs, by trusting that enough for all our needs is given to us and to share GENEROUSLY what I so generously receive.
• In thanksgiving for life, I pledge to overcome discouragement or despair by waking up to the opportunities that each given moment offers me and so to respond CREATIVELY to every situation.
  In thanksgiving for life, I pledge to overcome ANGER by observing that reacting to anger with anger only leads to more unrest and violence; thus, to foster life by acting and responding from my heart in PEACE.
• In thanksgiving to life, I pledge to overcome FEAR which is the root of all distress and unrest, by looking at whatever I fear as an opportunity and, thus, COURAGEOUSLY to lay the foundation for a peaceful future.

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash