Happy Thanksgiving in my words

I know this is late according to the calendar. Is it ever late to be thankful? I guess there are times when it would be. Hopefully this isn’t one of them. Happy Thanksgiving in my words.

The following are some definitions of the word ‘happy’:

• feeling or showing pleasure, contentment, or joy
• causing or characterized by pleasure, contentment, or joy
• feeling satisfied that something is right or has been done right
• willing to do something
• resulting unexpectedly in something pleasant or welcome
• used in formulae to express a hope that somebody will enjoy a special day or holiday

The following are some definitions of the words ‘thanks’ and ‘thanksgiving’:

• an expression of gratitude for something
• a prayer that offers thanks to God
• an expression or an act of giving thanks
• a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness

So maybe I would say, in my words, a joyous contentment in expressing gratitude. Or maybe pleasant satisfaction in publicly celebrating divine goodness.

When I dig to the core of the meaning of Happy Thanksgiving to me, I truly get to a place of content, of joy, of genuine gratitude and an internal celebration of divine goodness. It’s not about the stuff, or the things; all of which I can’t take to heaven anyways. It’s about the times that could have been worse, but they weren’t. It is about the times that were so amazing in a moment when I felt the least deserving. It is about the wondrous warmth and goodness in people when so many seem hard and cold at times. It’s about my family and loved ones. We didn’t pick our families, I am so glad God did it for us. It’s the joy of being a dad, being needed, as shown by the look in my baby’s eye or in the calm they feel in my arms. It’s the beauty of the quiet, distant moments with my wife when all the world seems miles away. It’s as plain or as magnificent as the simplicity of walking outside from a crowded place, full of hustle and bustle, into a dark evening where the sound of the silent snow falling is deafening, and beckons my mind to visit dozens of warm memories that just seconds before, were miles from view. Content. Happy with how things are, in any moment, or in all moments.

We have so much to be thankful for. Every moment there is something. Sometimes it’s the moment itself to be thankful for. I mean think about how life would be if we stopped more often, throughout each day, even for a second, to be thankful for something in our lives. Maybe it is a physical thing, or maybe it’s a moment today, that we didn’t have the day before. I think life would be far more rewarding than it already it is. I think we would proceed differently, slightly at first. As time and our commitment to genuine thankfulness wore on, the course would be dramatically altered. I can’t imagine that overall respect for one another as human beings wouldn’t improve. I would like to think that gratification could return to being a word that stands alone and no longer had to tag along with the word instant. Hey I know changing the course dramatically seems far-fetched, I just don’t think that being more thankful is that far-fetched. Neither is the time it would take to be more thankful. A conscious thought to allow for a moment to recognize a feeling of joy or content for something already present in your life. We spend more time trying to remember the name of a song than we do being present and thankful for just one of the many things we have to be thankful for.

Say thank you more often. Mean it. Look inside yourself and check to see just how thankful you are. Once you have identified how much gratitude you feel, let it be seen in your eyes, heard in your voice, and felt in your hug or handshake. If you cannot find the level of gratitude that should be present, then think on it some more and figure out what mental block is keeping you from gratitude. Get over the block and express gratitude or celebrate divine goodness, but don’t dismiss it.

I know, it’s late, but Happy Thanksgiving in my own words.