During this season of Autumn, changing leaves, and memories, we reflect on celebrating gratitude in a new way, with intentionality and as a spiritual discipline.

When folks around Texas hear “Open Season” they think wild animals and long rifles.

What if—

We consider these October days to be days when we open the season of gratitude with intentionality?

Personally, I had sweet and warm memories of my mother, Ruby, on her birthday recently, October 5^th. My heart swelled with gratitude for her and her fidelity. Even in troubling times, she celebrated special events with joy and a twinkle in her eye. Birthdays, holidays, festivals; Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. Seasonal decorations on the Sunday dining table for special invited guests.

What if—

We turned our attention to Halloween and celebrated it as All Hallow’s Eve (the Vigil of All Saint’s Day, October 31)? San Antonio’s rich tradition of making las ofrendas (offerings [altars] to the dead) celebrates the lives of our beloved ones who have gone on before us. My las ofrendas honoring my son, Wade, have been a ritual of remembering little details of his life that still touch me.

What if—

We gather on November 1 with some family or friends and tell the stories of how the Saints (big S) have blessed us or how special dear ones (small s) have blessed us. On All Saints Day, especially, I remember the pastor at my Aunt Adline’s funeral remarking that Adline was a praying person and surely, she continues to pray for us in heaven.

What if—

We enter into this Autumn season giving thanks, celebrating even the little things? Let the gratitude grow during the Advent season of holy expectation and waiting. Make Thanksgiving a season, not just a day, of gratitude for graces received during the previous year.

What if—

We approach the Nativity this year like we have never celebrated Christmas before, with a heart overflowing with gratitude for our God With Us, Emmanuel? The carols and narratives portray a silent night. What if we celebrate noisily, giving praise for the event that changed all of history – God born among us?

*Excerpt from A Root in Each Act and Creature. The Gift: Poems by Hafiz. Adapted from the translation by Daniel Ladinsky

When I lived in Germany in the 1980s, I knew a few Americans who were so focused on what they missed about America that it kept them from enjoying all that Germany had to offer. They had friends back home ship them boxes of Tide detergent, even though German stores stocked perfectly good alternatives. They desperately missed Wonder Bread while surrounded by marvelous German bakeries.

I thought of this when I read Henri Nouwen’s comment, who, after having been in five countries over the span of a few months, wrote, “If I could just fully appreciate [the strengths of various cultures], I could come to learn much about life everywhere and truly become present to where I am, always growing deeper in the spirit of gratitude.”*

Growing deeper in the spirit of gratitude. This, too, is a spiritual discipline. If I focus most of my attention on the things I lack, I will never fully appreciate the things I have. While I fret about what I lack, I often take what I have for granted. Jane Kenyon wisely cautioned us about that in her poem, “Otherwise”: “I got out of bed / on two strong legs. / It might have been / otherwise….”

Always growing deeper in the spirit of gratitude. That is where discipline is required. From time to time, I am aware of the gifts of each day, and offer God my thanks. But only from time to time.

As we move into the closing months of this year, let us welcome each day with gratitude. At the end of each day, thank God for one gift that day brought. Practice the simple discipline of table grace, but be specific: not just “Thank you for this food” but for the rice paddy or the wheat field, for the beanstalks and the apple trees, and for the work of many hands that brought this food to this plate.

If I start now, maybe, by Thanksgiving, I will have grown deeper in the spirit of gratitude.

*The Dance of Life, pp. 143-144.

Photo by Paul Hermann on Unsplash

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