A Blessing for Thanksgiving Day Morning

The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. 

In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, 

but in giving thanks we give ourselves.

- BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST

A Blessing for Thanksgiving Day Morning

(and again later, if needed)

by Kara K Root

Gratitude is a door into timelessness.

Stopping in wonder, 

letting gratefulness rise in your heart,

thicken your throat,

and press against the back of your eyes,

pulls you through the moment 

into the deep reality.

 

Beyond everything else,

and underneath it all,

We Belong to God

and We Belong to Each Other.

 

May today be filled with glimpses 

that break through noise and division, 

anxiety and frustration, 

distraction, blame and fatigue,

to this fundamental truth:

 

These people belong to you 

and you to them,

we all belong to God,

this whole wide world,

and life is a gift,

abundance beyond measure, powerful

to be shared and received.

Each breath and touch,

each laughter and tear,

each taste and texture,

drawing us in, opening us up,

to receive, respond, rejoice.

 

Pause there for a moment.

Read it again if it helps.

May you transcend and descend today.

 

And if you forget,

that you belong to God and these others,

may someone see past your defenses and bluster,

to your longing soul,

and may the Spirit gently nudge you back,

to your true home,

the space you are known and loved in God.

 

And when it’s a challenge,

may the grace of deep belonging hold you fast,

console your disappointment,

and give you a peek past the bluster

into the longing soul of another,

who belongs to God and you,

even while they’re forgetting it just now.

 

Gratitude is a door into timelessness.

It pulls you through the moment

into the deep reality.

And these words: “Thank you,” 

masquerade as simple, even trite,

but they are an invocation, 

a holy and powerful homecoming,

returning us to each other,

with whom we share all life and blessing,

and resuming us in God, 

from whom all life and blessing comes,

and to whom all life and blessing returns.

  

Happy Thanksgiving.

(Blessing from Receiving This Life)