I don’t know what to say this Thanksgiving. It’s possible that I’m too hung up on being different, unique, and original. I want to be thankful for something that no one else thinks to be thankful for.
I tend to think of myself as the anti-thesis to the competitive spirit; yet, on Thanksgiving, I notice it’s as though everyone is trying to out-thank each other—even me. It’s a chance to boast about career success, new house situation, or their family. All wrapped up in the guise of thankfulness, discussed around a table piled with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and all the other foods that Americans revel in. It’s exhausting.
I want out.
But then again, if I were to say, “I’m thankful to be breathing,” people would start wondering if something might be wrong with me. Or maybe think I was being extreme or showy in a negative or desperate way.
Isn’t breath a gift? Something to be thankful for that we rarely think of because we don’t have to.
I want to live a life of thankfulness.
But how, when entitlement is the norm? I’d like to know how to face each day with a sense of true, unshowy thankfulness, inviting others to join me in a perspective of caring gratitude.
To the God Who Deserves All Thankfulness,
Teach me how to be simply and truly grateful, when I wake in the morning with half a headache and a stiff neck, when the grocery shopping feels like a strange version of Pacman, when every person seems bent on bringing out the green monster in me.
Refocus my eyes on being thankful for breath in my lungs, clouds in the skies, and raindrops that splatter my face as I run through a parking lot.
Inhale grace; exhale gratitude.
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