I am so grateful that Thanksgiving is a major holiday here in the United States. I love it that in our country, our many cultures, many colors, many talents, and many life experiences find common ground in the practice of gratitude. It connects us at a spiritual level that we may not even be aware of. Gratitude, the simple act of letting what is good count, nourishes us from the inside out. It helps us see the light in one another’s eyes and feel the music singing from each soul.
One of our human dilemmas is pondering, “do I have to give up me to be loved by you?” The answer is decidedly and emphatically, “NO!” In fact, it is necessary for us to both be our unique selves and to find our oneness with others. We can’t have one without the other. When I am I and you are you and we respect each other’s presence, we have the basis upon which to make decisions, resolve differences, and so move forward in constructive living. This is true for families, friendships, churches, communities, nations, and our global community.
When a man asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), Jesus told the story about two people who belonged to cultural groups with a long-standing history of enmity and contempt. He told the story of the Samaritan man who showed great compassion to a Jewish man who had been robbed, beaten, and left for dead. At the end of the story, Jesus asked the questioner, “‘Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:36-7)
Friends, we don’t have to agree with anybody. We don’t even have to like each other. What our Christ within calls us to however, is to love one another. We are called to live in the depths of gratitude, see the good in everyone, and so find the light in one another’s eyes and feel the music singing from each soul. This is the meaning of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Blessings of Gratitude to You and Yours,
Rev. Anna
