What Thanksgiving is for

“Whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life.” 

~ Sanaya Roman, Writer/Mystic

I am not a believer in seed faith and the popular prosperity gospel that has almost completely taken over modern Christianity in this country.  These TV and other preachers who tell you that if you give a seed gift of $1,000 you will be changed forever and God will send you a harvest of money rolling endlessly into your life is just old fashioned circus barking.  

I do, however, believe there is something to appreciating life and showing gratitude for the gifts we are given.  I think Roman's quote above is good but it needs another line.  One that says the increases in the things we appreciate and give thanks for come from our personal acts of appreciation and gratitude.  In other words, when we show that we are grateful, the things/people/circumstances we appreciate, most often respond in good and receptive ways.

In this Thanksgiving season, find ways to demonstrate your appreciation and gratitude for the people you love, for the gifts you have been given, for life itself.  Skip the easy e-card route and send an actual greeting card with a personal note to someone you appreciate.  Give a thoughtful present.  Pull out your cell and make a call.  Stop by and visit an old friend or a lonely person.  Order someone flowers.  Make an anonymous contribution to a charity.  Share a smile with a passing stranger or one of those tired sales associates at the end of the grueling lines at the mall. 

Just being glad and showing it, for what poet Mary Oliver called "a little cup of sun," is what Thanksgiving is for.

(c) 2011 Timothy Moody