on giving thanks.

“Thanksgiving isn’t an event. It’s a discipline of the faithful. When we give thanks in weariness, give thanks in loss, give thanks for the ones we wish were near—we’re really proclaiming forth a proof of hope. For gratitude is a relentless witness to life we found in the dark.” –Ashlee Eiland

 

There are days and weeks—and years—when gratitude comes more easily than others. As my friend Brittany Sumsion Spencer beautifully put it, “Gratitude is a journey,” and one which takes a holistic view of joy and pain. In my experience, it is not a journey which overemphasizes joy and invalidates pain, but one which shapes us into vessels, better capable of holding the ambiguities, heartaches, exhilarations, beauties, and vicissitudes of being mortal.

I do believe, though, that gratitude can do wonders in shaping perspective. For me, focusing on gratitude broadens my horizons—of both the past and the present—which allows me to have hope for the future.

But, I’ve also found that, for me, just listing blessings only goes so far in shifting my perspective. Maybe it’s because I overthink things, maybe it’s because there is more to the core of gratitude than just lists (although, I am also a lover of lists). 

For me, gratitude is indelibly tied with relationships—with loved ones, with strangers, with our communities, with the earth, with God. And when we express gratitude, it is most completely done when expressed through word and deed. In the words of a favorite hymn of mine, “Because I have been given much, I too must give.” 

Gratitude reminds us of how tied we are to forces beyond our control; how we are bound to each other. Truly, life is not fair. There is so much I have that others in the world do not have; so many heartaches I have never experienced, so much pain I read about, but can hardly fathom. There are times when hard work does not bring success, when fate is cruel, when circumstances fail us. What I have been given does not make me better than anyone else; instead, it should make me deeply humble, and inspired to do more, to give more, to be more. I should remember to open my hands and heart to those everyone I encounter, because I do not know where they are walking from or towards.

Gratitude reminds me that God can use anything to make poetry. But, since gratitude is a journey, I don’t have to always be trying to make meaning out of every event, whether good or bad. Sometimes I don’t have the language yet to understand. But I have felt that poetry resonate within me, and for those quiet moments of clarity, I am grateful.