On this November day

The sun is out. The sky is clear. The streets are quiet. It's Thanksgiving day in the US of A!

Isn't it great, that this harvest celebration is called "Thanksgiving"? A friend and I talked about how there are many cultures around the world that celebrate the harvest season, but that ours is called Thanksgiving. It is such an intimate and familiar part of our vocabulary that I rarely stop and think this: Give thanks to whom? And why do we, human beings, have this sense of gratitude - how does that arise?

I'm mostly thankful for good things. We have this ability to enjoy. Enjoy beauty, enjoy help, enjoy love. We are thankful for things that we've RECEIVED, because, probably, we don't have the capacity, at that point in time (or ever!) to get them for ourselves. We say "thank you" when someone brings us coffee so we don't have to get up and get it ourselves. We say "thanks" when someone complimented us.

It just reminds me of our humanity: there are some things or actions that we are simply unable to do for ourselves. Like getting the sun to rise in the morning. Or making the tree grow. Or making someone love us.

I thank God for:
Friendship - I'd go insane, rude, ugly, and dark, without my friends
Taste buds - need I say more?
Creativity - funny: the first thing that came to mind was music, of course, but then I thought of the internet. I'm thankful for the internet! And language, speaking, writing. The printing press. Film. Medicine. Electricity. Problem solving. City planning.
Stories - they teach and they entertain. And sometimes they can change you.
Him. The Creator and Giver of all good things, without whom, I wouldn't be able to enjoy anything.

Amen. Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's eat.