HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving Season is one of the special times 
 that invite us to pause,to reminisce and to remember 
everything that we need to be grateful for - 
all the people, events, and things -
that have come into our lives
and that have shaped our being into who we are.

Here are some powerful one-liners and inspiratons that might help us
to enter, to fathom and to reflect on 
the many ways by which
we have been invited to live out this spirit of Thanksgiving
in our personal lives!

May we always have a grateful heart!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, 

and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich."

 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Gratitude ... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" 

and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. 

In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response 

to the awareness of gifts received, 

but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. 

The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge 
that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy."

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen

"Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed 
or those we enjoy now." 


-- A. W. Tozer 

"Thanksgiving like contentment is a learned attitude. The person who has not learned to be content will not be thankful for he lives with the delusion that he deserves more or something better."

--Robert Flatt

"To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, 

to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. 

Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. 

Everything originates in a will for good, which is directed at you. 

Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude."

--Albert Schweitzer

"To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us--and He has given us everything.  Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him."

~ Thomas Merton

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

 – Thornton Wilder

A Thanksgiving  Blessing

May an abundance of gratitude burst forth

as you reflect upon what you received.

May thanksgiving overflow in your heart

and often be proclaimed in your prayer.

May you gather around the table of your heart

an ardent faithfulness, kindness and goodness

of each person who is true to you.

May the harvest of your good actions

bring forth plentiful fruit each day.

May you discover a cache of hidden wisdom

among the people and events that have brought you 

distress and sorrow.

May your basket of blessings surprise you 

with its diversity of gifts

and of its opportunities for growth.

May all that nourishes and resources your life

bring you daily satisfaction and renewed hope.

May you slow your hurried pace of life

so you can be aware of, and enjoy,

what you too easily took for granted.

May you always be open, willing,

and ready to share your blessings with others.

May you never forget the Generous One

who loves you lavishly and unconditionally.

-Sister Joyce Rupp -