Wakefulness with Gratefulness

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holiday season is well underway; while Thanksgiving used to usher in the Christmas season, it seems as though retailers and advertisers have steam rolled over Thanksgiving and Christmas is in full swing before the turkey comes out of the oven!

Before you get wrapped up in the gift giving, tangled in the tinsel on the tree, and sprinkled with baked treats; take a pause and think about the many blessings you have received over the year. To start the day with gratitude for all the big and little things in your life.

It's a day where there is already some peace on Earth, the hustle and bustle of the day is put to rest to celebrate family, friends, and feasting; but it also gives us a chance to exhale and not be a total slave to our clocks and calendars. We may have a table full of food awaiting us or to make by a certain time, but all else comes to a bit of a stand still and in those moments we can think of things that we are most grateful for today. The laughter, the tears, the struggles that brought strength, the fears and worries which brought possibilities and those that were by our side through it all.

We remember those blessings that have gotten away from us, those things that maybe we are so used to, that we forget what a blessing they are. Then there are those blessings that no matter how grateful we are, by the day's end those blessings fade away for whatever reason. Blessings come and go in our lives, we hold onto them with gratitude for as long as we can or choose to; but perhaps every Thanksgiving in a quiet moment of the day, we will pause and remember those blessings that have gone and still be grateful for what they once brought to us.