I shared the last half of your gratitude prayer at Thanksgiving dinner with my son and his family and several times thereafter. You said it much better than I could have. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I hope your Thanksgiving was one for the record books. God bless you!
Thank you Diana. I appreciate this reminder that gratitude is a choice. I tend to think of gratitude as a feeling that either I have or don't have, but thinking of it as a muscle that I choose to strengthen, or not, gives me a different way of thinking about it. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your writing which is continually packed with wisdom, honesty, vulnerability, and a huge love for the world. I am so grateful that you continue to be my teacher, after all these years!
Diana, as a German who has not been socialized with thanksgiving and it’s romanticized images I think your beautiful story of the holy remnant is still valid. The snowstorm, the hymn sung by a few and all.
It reminded me of a time I spend in the holy city in these unholy times of the second intifada with all the shops closed in the old madina. I ended up being the only visitor at the redeemer church for Sunday morning worship. A church busting with people in good times! Singing alone with the pastor (who was not a good singer) was as desperate as it was holy I suppose.
Memories are made this way. And they are as selective as human perception. But nonetheless they nourish us as fragmented they might be. Because they tell of a holy moment when transcendence breaks in and spirit blows where she wills.
Thank you so much for this beautiful piece! And blessings and thanksgiving to all here 🙏
Thank you for the gentle reminder that gratitude is not about stuff…..a friend commented yesterday that she missed having two ovens and that it made it so much easier to do all the holiday baking she grudgingly said yes to…. My heart sank…
Then, after I hung up, my heart filled with such joy I thought it would burst when I recalled being homeless with my son and the clothes on our backs and nothing else…and we had the most magnificent Thanksgiving feast of peanut butter crackers, a little box of animal crackers, two apples, and a pint of milk because I found a dollar tucked away…
God’s Peace and Blessings to everyone on this Day of Gratitude…
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is such a keen juxtaposition to the normalized practice of spending Thanksgiving in gluttony, oblivious to the core reason for the day. Blessings to you as you profoundly remind us of our blessings!
This is marvelous. I am very grateful for you, Diana, the wisdom and wholeness that you share, the questions you raise, and the light you bring to a world full of shadows. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
My Husband and I will eat well in our retirement community dining room on Thanksgiving. I am grateful for our young serving staff who almost always serve cheerfully and well. We have been blessed with an excellent chef as well. Our family is scattered or working tomorrow. What I am grateful for most are the Thanksgivings at the Grandparents farm and at other times because it was still a working farm when I was little so I know where my food comes from and am grateful for the lessons we continued to learn. We all were always sent home with more food than leftovers from The Thanksgiving meal. As I got older it was the preserves put up during the summer often with jam for which I picked and pitted cherries.!!!! And always fresh baked cookies!! Blessed and grateful still by our church community here which has accepted not only me but everyone for where we are and ministers to us and invites us in as we are able without ever asking us for a pledge or anything in return. In thankfulness and gratitude for them all ; I find ways to reciprocate. In Gratitude for all in this community too. Bonita
I am so tempted to focus on what I don't have or what others have and I want that I lose my grateful heart. I like Helen Keller's comment on the subject: "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet."
I'm thankful that you came into my life so many years ago at Trinity Church in Santa Barbara..
Tomorrow my Madison family is going to Chicago to enjoy dinner with my nephew. I'll be giving him the copy of Freeing Jesus that you signed for him back in La Crosse.
I like to think of the first “official” Thanksgiving. Lincoln made it a national holiday in the darkness of the Civil War and his own personal grief of his son’s death. A more realistic vision of the day and why it’s needed. Happy thanksgiving!
I’m hard pressed to articulate sufficiently why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I am the heretic who shuns the false history, doesn’t make idols of turkey, family, sports, parades typically sited as reasons for the reason others look forward to the holiday. My relishing Thanksgiving is purely because I like having a day to recommitment to Thanks Living, because one day is NOT enough in a relationship with the Divine to revel in gratitude. I need the least commercialized humble holiday to remind myself to reimagine a pure celebration that befits all I have been given physically, emotionally, spiritually and cosmically. Meanwhile I keep praying for a national holiday reset. It feels like tilting at windmills, but it’s a hopeful exercise. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Cottage family! 🙏
I shared the last half of your gratitude prayer at Thanksgiving dinner with my son and his family and several times thereafter. You said it much better than I could have. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I hope your Thanksgiving was one for the record books. God bless you!
Thank you Diana. I appreciate this reminder that gratitude is a choice. I tend to think of gratitude as a feeling that either I have or don't have, but thinking of it as a muscle that I choose to strengthen, or not, gives me a different way of thinking about it. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your writing which is continually packed with wisdom, honesty, vulnerability, and a huge love for the world. I am so grateful that you continue to be my teacher, after all these years!
Diana, as a German who has not been socialized with thanksgiving and it’s romanticized images I think your beautiful story of the holy remnant is still valid. The snowstorm, the hymn sung by a few and all.
It reminded me of a time I spend in the holy city in these unholy times of the second intifada with all the shops closed in the old madina. I ended up being the only visitor at the redeemer church for Sunday morning worship. A church busting with people in good times! Singing alone with the pastor (who was not a good singer) was as desperate as it was holy I suppose.
Memories are made this way. And they are as selective as human perception. But nonetheless they nourish us as fragmented they might be. Because they tell of a holy moment when transcendence breaks in and spirit blows where she wills.
Thank you so much for this beautiful piece! And blessings and thanksgiving to all here 🙏
Thank you for the gentle reminder that gratitude is not about stuff…..a friend commented yesterday that she missed having two ovens and that it made it so much easier to do all the holiday baking she grudgingly said yes to…. My heart sank…
Then, after I hung up, my heart filled with such joy I thought it would burst when I recalled being homeless with my son and the clothes on our backs and nothing else…and we had the most magnificent Thanksgiving feast of peanut butter crackers, a little box of animal crackers, two apples, and a pint of milk because I found a dollar tucked away…
God’s Peace and Blessings to everyone on this Day of Gratitude…
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is such a keen juxtaposition to the normalized practice of spending Thanksgiving in gluttony, oblivious to the core reason for the day. Blessings to you as you profoundly remind us of our blessings!
Oh my!
This is marvelous. I am very grateful for you, Diana, the wisdom and wholeness that you share, the questions you raise, and the light you bring to a world full of shadows. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Amen!
My Husband and I will eat well in our retirement community dining room on Thanksgiving. I am grateful for our young serving staff who almost always serve cheerfully and well. We have been blessed with an excellent chef as well. Our family is scattered or working tomorrow. What I am grateful for most are the Thanksgivings at the Grandparents farm and at other times because it was still a working farm when I was little so I know where my food comes from and am grateful for the lessons we continued to learn. We all were always sent home with more food than leftovers from The Thanksgiving meal. As I got older it was the preserves put up during the summer often with jam for which I picked and pitted cherries.!!!! And always fresh baked cookies!! Blessed and grateful still by our church community here which has accepted not only me but everyone for where we are and ministers to us and invites us in as we are able without ever asking us for a pledge or anything in return. In thankfulness and gratitude for them all ; I find ways to reciprocate. In Gratitude for all in this community too. Bonita
I am so tempted to focus on what I don't have or what others have and I want that I lose my grateful heart. I like Helen Keller's comment on the subject: "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet."
I'm thankful that you came into my life so many years ago at Trinity Church in Santa Barbara..
Tomorrow my Madison family is going to Chicago to enjoy dinner with my nephew. I'll be giving him the copy of Freeing Jesus that you signed for him back in La Crosse.
Happy Day to you and your family!
Thank you for this, Diana. I love what you wrote and ALL the comments. I will be sharing this with a lot of people.
Amen.
I choose gratitude too. Thank you for this beautiful message Diana. Happy Thanksgiving!
Beautiful message Diana. I choose gratitude this year and appreciate all the goodness that you bring to my life.
This piece makes me reflect in a really good way about Thanksgiving. Thank you for this.
I like to think of the first “official” Thanksgiving. Lincoln made it a national holiday in the darkness of the Civil War and his own personal grief of his son’s death. A more realistic vision of the day and why it’s needed. Happy thanksgiving!
Same.
I love that Lincoln address.
I’m hard pressed to articulate sufficiently why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I am the heretic who shuns the false history, doesn’t make idols of turkey, family, sports, parades typically sited as reasons for the reason others look forward to the holiday. My relishing Thanksgiving is purely because I like having a day to recommitment to Thanks Living, because one day is NOT enough in a relationship with the Divine to revel in gratitude. I need the least commercialized humble holiday to remind myself to reimagine a pure celebration that befits all I have been given physically, emotionally, spiritually and cosmically. Meanwhile I keep praying for a national holiday reset. It feels like tilting at windmills, but it’s a hopeful exercise. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Cottage family! 🙏