I want to share with you this reading which is part of our tradition for Thanksgiving. It seems even more poignant this year. Bill and I will pray it, even though it will be just the two of us.
“An Accounting of Gratitude”
Arthur Foote from Taking Down the Defenses (1972)
“The grateful soul of the wise man is the true altar of God.” PHILO JUDAEUS (c. 20 BC-c.50 AD)
I say to myself: Be Thankful.
Be thankful for the happiness you have known in times past, the moments of mirth and ecstasy, the years of health; how many of your dreams have come true; promises , long deferred, have so often at least been made good.
Be thankful for the dearness of your loved ones, the fidelity of your friends, the courtesy and kindness repeatedly shown you by total strangers.
Be thankful that your fears have again and again proven groundless, that you have survived so many close calls, so many narrow escapes; and that the same good fortune has generally followed your children in their misadventures, and your friends likewise.
Be thankful for not only for the joys that have accompanied your way, and the unnumbered gifts of a kindly providence. Master the harder part of gratitude for life’s sterner lessons. You have known pain, pain that has given you warning of unseen dangers. You have known failure, failure that shattered false hopes of easy victory, and toughened your spirit for renewed efforts. Having made mistakes, you have learned important lessons. Having encountered obstacles, you have found courage and endurance to surmount them. Having known sorrow and loneliness, you have discovered that even these have quickened your sympathy, and taught you the needs of others.
Be thankful, then, that so much you have not sought and would have by-passed if you could, nonetheless has proved enriching to your experience. Even in life’s dark labyrinthine ways and bitter moments, the man of faith and hope can trace the workings of a mysterious wisdom, an impartial providence, to more than human love.