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Tag: #gratitude

Gratitude

First, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Things may look bleak right now in many ways.


Covid-19 is taking lives and livelihoods every day. Friends and family are affected by job loss, income loss, and lives lost. It’s hard to be thankful for anything when these hit us so close to home.

Our culture is severely divided along ideological lines. It’s not just right vs. left or Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s son vs. father, daughter vs. mother. There are many households that are fractured during a season where joy and thanks should be the hallmarks.

Issues that surround the differences in skin color have been cut open and are bleeding in our streets. For many people, particularly white Americans, this has come as a surprise. They had thought that this issue had been settled in the 60s. In fact, racism had just been covered up. It still festered like an untreated infection until the poison came to a head and exploded.

Native Americans remember this day with great sorrow. Many take this day for “reflection and mourning for Lives Taken.” Others celebrate the harvest in order to remember what Thanksgiving is truly about.

Yet, here I am encouraging everyone to embrace Thanksgiving.
Not as the cultural holiday that it has morphed into.
But, so that we may express Gratitude.
It’s easy to sit around a table laden with all sorts of seasonal goodies. We can gorge ourselves on turkey and dressing, pie and cream. Then, sit in our living rooms watching football and feeling content.
Gratitude is not the same as feeling content. Feeling content is more akin to feeling satisfied.
Satisfied in how well I and my family fare so that we can afford this meal with all the trimmings. Satisfied that I can watch a game on my 50″, super HD television while seated in my padded recliner in the warmth of my heated home.
I don’t want to judge anyone. I’m going to do the same thing today. With, maybe, a nap thrown in for good measure.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with feeling content.

We must, however, remember that the feelings we have are not truly gratitude.

Perhaps we can be grateful for the resiliency of humankind.
We are stretched almost to breaking by the pressures of the pandemic and the culture and politics and the economy and, and, and….
Yet, we do not break. We find ways, not just to cope, but to overcome. Our lineage still hearkens back to our first forbears, including Lucy. These beings adapted and overcame obstacle that could have caused extinction. There are many examples of hominin species that did not survive. Ours, thankfully, did. Their survival and continued existence through many changes and forms seems to have engrained in us that same will to survive and thrive.
So, thank you Lucy!

We can be thankful for our friends and family. Especially, those of us who are difficult to love. People still put up with us. One or two actually seem to like us! Holy Crap!
So, thank you to all. (You know who you are!)

The food and shelter that so many take for granted are truly reasons to be thankful. Through science and sweat we have surpluses of grain, fruit, meat, and fish. We have technology that allows us to build and maintain housing in cities and suburbs. We are able to pipe water into our homes and, pipe our waste out. Gas, electricity, and telecommunications are things that we take for granted. We should not. These are things that we should be particularly thankful for.
So, thank you to the scientists, engineers, and laborers who make these things possible.

I could go on about specific things that we may be grateful for. But, I don’t want to sit here typing all day. There are turkey and potatoes calling my name!

I do want to say thank you to One more Person.
How can I express my gratitude to the One Who has given more than any other could possibly give?
Call this Person God if you like.
Love and acceptance are difficult for us humans. We find ourselves trying to condition our offering of these to others. “They aren’t like us,” we say. So, whoever ‘they’ are don’t receive those from us. “They talk strange,” or “They worship differently.” These difference seem to give us license to treat them as “Other” or “Less than.”
Yet, a Merciful God did not consider us as “Other.” God did not think of us as “Unworthy” or “Less than.”
God chose to Love us instead.
And, not only us!
God chose to Love the earth and the cosmos and the entire universe.


This should serve us as the Ultimate Example of how we should express our gratitude toward God, our families, and our communities.
And, not only these.

Perhaps during this season of thankfulness and joy we can take a minute to consider how we have benefitted by being a part of the Cosmos.

Thank you, God!

And, thank you for reading this.

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Gratitude

The past month has been, well, unique for me.
I began the month looking forward to my retirement looming just at the horizon. I could see the glint and glitter of my own Emerald City as the rays of the sun caressed it. The reflections dancing on the wisps of clouds that soared so high above.

Then, I have what?!?

And, the roller coaster plunged down that first hill.
Cedar Point got nothing on this one!

The weeks that followed my diagnosis have been, well, a tad turbulent.
I’ve had what appeared to be one setback after another. From suspicious spots on my liver to a failed cardiac test.
All of these things adding to the stress and anxiety that was already present.

Oh, and still trying to get all of the details nailed down for that retirement thing.

It’s been, well, interesting.

Yet, even as I sit here, still uncertain about what’s next, I am filled with gratitude.

I am extremely grateful that on that November Monday morning in 2011 that Dr. Dean Nukta was on call at Fairview Hospital. He was the person who put two stents in the main artery of my heart that was 100% blocked. He saved my life that day.
I am grateful that he is still my doctor and, when an abnormality showed up in a stress test, immediately scheduled a cardiac cath so he could determine what was happening. He cared enough about my upcoming cancer surgery to shoe-horn me in. He also oversaw this procedure. In all of the years that I’ve been his patient, yesterday was the first time that I saw him smile as he told me that everything looked great.
So, thank you Dr. Nukta.

Staying with that theme, I want to sincerely thank the entire cath team for their work.
They were professional, yet personable. They were a comfort both in their presence and their expertise.
The team in Pre/Post, especially Jackie, deserve cudos. Again, their care, compassion, and professionalism were greatly appreciated.

I want to thank all of you who have been following this continuing saga. Your concern and well-wishes are appreciated more than you can ever know.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Of course, my wife and daughter have been pillars for me. Even though they are both battling illness, they have risen to the task of supporting me physically and emotionally.
There are not enough thanks that can be offered for them.

God, too, is deserving of my gratitude. Perhaps not for the reasons that some of you may expect. I am grateful to Yahweh for Presence. I am not some kind of holy person. I don’t walk around with my religious head up my sanctified butt.
But, I do recognize God’s Presence. If I seem comfortable and peaceful it’s not because I have some ability to rise above circumstance. I don’t. In truth, I am a real pain in the ass. However, if I can testify to anything at all it’s that God has been fully Present throughout this time.
Please don’t think that I’m saying that God is somehow orchestrating the process. I don’t believe that for a second.
God is Present in the process.
God Empathizes wholly with what I am experiencing and has chosen to walk beside me as I go through all of this.
So, yes, I am grateful to God for Presence.

I am still awaiting the outcome of that MRI I had yesterday.
That will be the final determinate as to whether I have surgery on Monday or, um, something else less encouraging.

I do appreciate you all for your support.
And, I hope that I don’t need to return this particular favor.
I don’t wish what I am experiencing on anyone.
But, if the time should come, I will do my best to walk with you.

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