1, 3, 5
Hope your Thanksgiving is enjoyable and a time of gratefulness. Many times I have said that when something comes to me three times, I have to write about it. Here is 1 Notes of Hope about something that presented itself to me 3 times this week.
As I was going through some of my Boundless Compassion facilitator resources, I found a TED talk that is important for today and every day. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar, begins, “The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy.” And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. He contends that we often have it backwards thinking that happiness brings gratitude. It is actually gratitude that brings happiness! You can listen to his talk here https://youtu.be/UtBsl3j0YRQ.
Another time this subject came up was at the labyrinth facilitator walk I led Saturday where I gave each person a small red heart to take on their walk as they pondered having a thankful heart and what/who they were grateful for in their lives. A picture of the walk is attached to this Notes.
Then Sunday, as I led worship at First Trinity Lutheran Church, we sang, as is our custom, Rev. James Capers’ Liturgy of Joy from the This Far By Faith hymnal. The “Thankful Hearts and Voices Raise” piece always generates a smile on my face. The gratitude expressed in that piece brings me happiness.
On Thanksgiving Day my family tradition is to have each person share five things they are grateful for over the past year. These are recorded in my scrapbook and journal. It’s interesting to look back and see what people have said over the years. This makes me happy.
What five things are you grateful for? May they bring you happiness!
Let’s go out and share that gratitude and happiness.
