Skip to main content

Thanksgiving: a Day and a Way of Life

As Americans, we enter the Thanksgiving season. Already people are wishing me a “happy Thanksgiving.” I am delighted with that greeting. And I would be delighted if someone next week wishes me a “happy Monday.” But I guess Mondays are supposed to be normal…not so happy, not so awful.

I am not sure I do major holidays very well. I am not against them. They celebrate important events in national, religious, and often personal lives. Thanksgiving is an American deal. In Turkey it is just another weekday! As an American, I welcome it. And I hope it is happy.

I am confident one of the reasons I am not sure about major holidays is the trickiness of expectations. For example, Thanksgiving is supposed to be “happy.” Christmas is supposed to be “merry” and, of course, we return to the “happy” theme for New Years. Clearly, for too many people there are too many lousy things going on to gear up to be “happy” and “merry.” Holiday expectations are tricky things.

The truth is Thanksgiving lasts one day. It is here and it is gone. Even if one adds “Black Friday,” that is only two days. Since I am not a shopper and, certainly, not a shop-till-I-drop person, Friday is not part of the deal. No one ever has wished me a “Happy Black Friday!”

I am glad Thanksgiving is here. And I am glad it is one day and then it is over till another year. And I hope I am happy…and you, too.

In reality I am more interested in how Thanksgiving can become a way of life. In fact, I think we should not capitalize it. I want my way of life to be one of thanksgiving. That gets me at the spiritual roots of my life and how I want those roots to issue a way of life for which I can say, “thanks.” And I hope my way of life becomes such that others can say, “thank you.”

Both those qualities are necessary for my understanding of thanksgiving as a way of life. I need to be able to say, “thanks,” and to have others respond genuinely with their “thank you.” If I am only concerned with a way of life for which I give “thanks,” I fear it may be a way of life rooted in self-interest. If I get all I want, then I will be thankful. But some of what I might want may come at the expense of others. And surely, they are not going to say, “thank you.”

On the other hand, if I live only to get your “thank you,” I may be nothing more than your servant or, worse, doormat! You happily say, “thank you,” but I certainly am not saying, “thanks.”

The good news is that kind of thanksgiving is a way of life. I don’t have to pull it off by the weekend. Like music or sports, I will probably have to practice a fair amount. There is time. Perhaps, the real question is not whether I am succeeding, but am I making progress?

How will I know if I am making progress? Likely, there are many ways to measure it, but let me offer two. I will be making progress if I am more loving---more loving than I was last week and last Thanksgiving. Sometimes that is not easy---there are so many ding-a-lings out there! And of course, most people are not as loveable as I am!

The second measure is if I am more graceful. I am not thinking of gymnasts and ballerinas. Grace is always a gift. If I am more graceful, I am more giving---perhaps, more forgiving. If I can be more graceful, more giving, then people are more likely to say, “thank you.”

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I will return to writing on Monday, November 30th.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-Thou Relationships

Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber.   I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s.   It was already a famous book by then.   I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it.   It has been a while since I looked at the book.             Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks?   I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece.   I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation.   I wish more people read him and took him seriously.           ...
13 comments
Read more

Spiritual Commitment

I was reading along in a very nice little book and hit these lines about commitment.   The author, Mitch Albom, uses the voice of one of the main characters of his nonfiction book about faith to reflect on commitment.   The voice belongs to Albom’s old rabbi of the Jewish synagogue where he went until his college days.   The old rabbi, Albert Lewis, says “the word ‘commitment’ has lost its meaning.”    The rabbi continues in a way that surely would have many people saying, “Amen!”   About commitment he says, “I’m old enough when it used to be a positive.   A committed person was someone to be admired.   He was loyal and steady.   Now a commitment is something you avoid.   You don’t want to tie yourself down.”   I also think I am old enough to know that commitment was usually a positive word.   I can think of a range of situations in which commitment would have been seen to be positive.   For example, growing up was f...
20 comments
Read more

Inward Journey and Outward Pilgrimage

There are so many different ways to think about the spiritual life.   And of course, in our country there are so many different variations of religious experiences.   There are liberals and conservatives.   There are fundamentalists and Pentecostals.   Besides the dizzying variety of Christian traditions, there are many different non-Christian traditions.   There are the major traditions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on.   There are the slightly more obscure traditions, such as Sikhism, Jainism, etc.   And then there are more fringe groups and, even, pseudo-religions.   There are defining doctrines and religious practices.   Some of these are specific to a particular tradition or a few traditions, such as the koan , which is used in Zen Buddhism for example.   Other defining doctrines or practices are common across the religious board.   Something like meditation would be a good example.   Christians meditate;...
10 comments
Read more