Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving


Giving the Thanksgiving prayer is a daunting task. It is not quite possible to do so completely, because it would take far longer than I have, and I lack the words and depth of understanding to express our collective gratitude in a significant way.

We are thankful for our family, for the multitude of blessings seen and unseen every day, for the food we are about to enjoy and for knowing love. Those are the obvious things. But, there are so many magnificent others I will inevitably leave off the list if I try – the color of orange at sunset over Gunflint Lake gives us hope for tomorrow and in which we see John, the warmth of a hand to assure us we are not alone in this universe, the comfort found in a silent night.

So, I will focus on two things that seem to sum up 2009, learning and falling.

Yes, some of us have a flair for falling, but with the help of others we are able to get up and start anew. It has been said that, “nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes us to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in the path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” We give thanks for the mountain, the path, the pebbles and being able to get up when we fall.

Their age difference is greater than eight decades, but Graham Pugh and Barbara Graham each share the unquenchable thirst for learning that resides in all of us. Let us give thanks for that and endeavor to remember and live by Gandhi’s words, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

We give thanks for these things and much more today. Amen.

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