An Attitude of Gratitude

The following is the text from my lesson to the Upper School Chapel for Thanksgiving

Next week is Thanksgiving. I can hardly believe that how fast this semester has gone by. We’ll blink once and it will be Christmas. We’ll blink again and it will be graduation.

Sadly, thanksgiving has become a lost holiday of sorts. We gather as a family, eat lots of food, watch some football, and if you’re anything like my extended family avoid meaningful conversation with each other at all costs. Giving thanks then consists of going around the table and saying how thankful we are for our family, the food in front of us, and of course this day of thanks. But I can assure you that none of us has gone nearly far enough.

A professor of mine once counseled me about having “an attitude of gratitude”. It means that instead of paying lip service to how thankful we are about something to instead demonstrate it.

If you’re thankful for the food you eat, by all means please tell the person who made it thank you. But also make sure that the person who cooked the wonderful mean doesn’t also clean up the mess. And of course never forget that the best way to show gratitude for our daily bread is to find ways to share it with those who have no food at all.

If you’re thankful for your family and friends, please tell them how much you appreciate them. Find little ways to return the love they have so unselfishly given to you. And of course never forget to show love to those who have no friends or family at all, especially this time of year.

And if you are thankful for your education, for the opportunities that are being placed before you, for the fact that you are alive, please tell your teachers, coaches and God “thank you”. But don’t ever forget that a demonstration of that thanks is what you do with the knowledge you have gained here, and what you will accomplish with that opportunities set before you. How you live this life gifted to us by our creator is the gift you give to him in return.

So enjoy next week’s festivities; the food, the family and football. And keep that attitude of gratitude with you always.

picture from www.whatscookingamerica.net