Thankful
Blissful, Gratified, Delighted, Pleased, and Satisfied, are synonymous with Thankful. Thankful is an adjective describing a state of being. I feel thankful when I eat this cheeseburger. I just can’t help but be moved to be thankful when I watch the sunset into the Straights of Georgia. Thankful is something that happens to us. I believe this is how we generally think about giving thanks. When it occurs to me, I get a feeling; Or when it doesn’t occur to me, I do not feel thankful. I pounded that cheeseburger and now, I want some fries. I’m ready to move on to the next thing with a full belly and little grease dripping from my chin, but I’m not really thankful. I glanced up as the sun was setting and barely noticed as I went back to reading the news on my phone. I am not thankful. Bliss did not happen to me.
I have been learning that the action of “being thankful” is something I can choose. Actually, rather pragmatically, I’ve learned it is great combat, for depression, anxiety, and stress, to practice thankfulness. When I feel failure, insignificance, or disappointment, I can lean into and remember all that is around me, for which I can be grateful. The action of thankfulness helps lift my spirit. Perhaps the work of recognizing delight is a way of letting the holy spirit work in my life. The choice to see what is good in my life, helps me to lean in and access the unconditional love of God. It just works in my soul to, sort of, conjure thankfulness.
One of the synonyms for thankful is the word “Indebted.” This seems more appropriate than the other synonyms. Generally, when something good is given to me I owe for that good. I am indebted. The beauty of thankfulness, that comes from the holy spirit, is that it is free. The grace and unconditional love in a package, which we can access through the action of thankfulness, is perhaps one manifestation of the Grace of God.
With that in mind, the Morse Family offers up the things for which we are thankful:
Lisa says she is thankful for her family. I know this family, fairly intimately, and I promise at least one member of this family, the husband/dad, must require an effort to be the object of “delight.”
David, after I paused the TV show he was watching and described my blog thought above, said he was thankful for seeing the picture of his friend’s new cats “Atticus” and “Scout.” I began to restate my deep thoughtful hypothesis about the action of grace, but at that point David, clearly having understood me the first time said, “Dad, I would be thankful if you would turn the TV back on”
Annika is thankful that she just turned 21 and can drink gin cocktails without guilt. She is also thankful I did not wake her up at 7:30am to ask her this question when it first occurred to me.
Nic is thankful for flying a plane that correctly controls the flow of carbon monoxide OUTSIDE of the passenger cabin. He is also thankful he is not yet home for Thanksgiving and does not have to answer my questions about thankfulness.
Mike, I am thankful my family allowed me to bother them with my blog exercise without banning me from Thanksgiving dinner. I am thankful that my 53 year-old body still affords me the ability to run through the woods or along the beach and feel the runners high from the endorphins that flow when my cardio vascular systems does it’s thing.