Throughout the challenges, the pandemic, division within our communities, nation, and even families, the devastation in our war-torn world, and more, there is still so much to be grateful for, even the struggles.

One of the great spiritual writers, Henri Nouwen, wrote: “To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives – the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections – that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.”

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, there is indeed much to be grateful for, each and every day, whatever might be occurring in our lives.

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is Thank You, it will be enough.” Meister Eckhart

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz