In Thanksgiving
    As we gather soon with loved ones to give thanks and to enjoy being together, I offer these beautiful words. They are from the book Earth Prayers From Around the World, edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon.
    “Belonging is the basic truth of our existence. We belong here. Life belongs here. Likewise, at the heart of gratefulness, in its deepest sense, we also find an expression of belonging. When we say “Thank you” we really are saying “We belong together.” That is why we sometims find it so difficult to say “Thank you”–because we don’t want to acknowledge our interdependence. We don’t want to be obliged. But in a healthy society that is exactly what we seek: mutual obligations. Everyone is obliged to everyone and everything else; we all belong together, we are of each other. In this awareness we are freed from self-preoccupation–and only then, emptied of self, can we be filled with thanks. As Brother David Steindl-Rast tells us, “Love whole-heartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise–then you will discover the fullness of your life.”
    “Within this human impulse to gratitude flow the vast cycles of universal reciprocity–for everything that is taken, something has to be given in return. If you merely take in a breath and stop there, you will die. Likewise if you merely breathe out. Life is not giving or taking, but give and take. This is the dynamic expression of universal belonging expressed in our thanksgiving.
We give-away our thanks to the earth
    which gives us our home.
We give-away our thanks to the rivers and lakes
    which give-away their water.
We give-away our thanks to the trees
    which give-away fruit and nuts. . . .
All beings on earth:Â the trees, the animals, the wind
    and the rivers give-away to one another
    so all is in balance. . . .
(Dolores LaChapelle)
    “In the midst of a pragmatic world in which we constantly ask ourselves how “useful” things are, these prayers may seem “useless.” Yet perhaps the greatest gift we humans have to offer the rest of creation is our heartfelt appreciation. The ability to receive in thankfulness the blessings of life is an awesome quality. We alone on this planet can reflect on all that surrounds us and through our loving recognition the rest of the Earth achieves a deep fulfillment.
Earth isn’t this what you want:Â invisibly
to arise in us?
(Rainer Maria Rilke)
    “Our praise and thanksgiving is as essential a part of life’s give and take as are the cycles of oxygen and water or any other nourishment flowing through the biosphere.”
November 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Hello April. And heart-felt Thanksgiving wishes to you, back in your beloved home in the Shenandoah Valley. Maybe the above reading helps me understand why I bristle every time I say “Thank you” and the reply is “No problem.”
It has been my custom before our shared Thanksgiving feasts in Tucson to read one of the Graces from the Earth Prayers book. My favorite is the one by Thich Nhat Hanh. Perhaps you can share that, maybe for Thanksgiving Day.