Some years ago, I officiated a wedding in the couple’s backyard. They had been together for awhile, already sharing a household. They wanted to celebrate and affirm their life-long partnership with a marriage ceremony in the witness of their immediate families. There is some acreage of woods directly behind their house. The witnessing community and couple were facing those woods, 15 yards away from the patio. The intensity of emotion and joy was palpable. During the giving of rings, a deer ventured forth from the woods to see what was going on. The deer approached this group of people and watched for a moment, then it went on back into the woods. The couple had never witnessed this before -- the deer was actually checking out what was going on. The timing was perfect, the upstaging poignant, and I incorporated the deer in the following prayer, since, after all, it was listening too. I have no doubt that the deer sensed something important was happening, an aura of gratitude for life, I think. A moment of grace.
If we speak aloud our gratitude or share in silence our thankfulness, we create an energy about us: a hopeful, compelling energy. A moment of Grace.
In the business of lives, we need to discipline ourselves to find moments of togetherness and of thankfulness in our lives, because it makes a difference, not only within our outlooks, but in the substance of our living and the energy we convey.
Thanksgiving is around the corner and the complexities of extended family living come into play. Reminders of the disparity of those with plenty and those with none are also in the forefront of many minds. In whatever situation we may find ourselves, whatever struggles we are in, whatever opportunities we enjoy, it is important to foster our thankfulness, to speak it aloud and share it in silence. It is what generates hope and strength in our lives and moves us to cherish life in others.
As “Grace” may be requested at Thanksgiving dinner, and it may be an awkward moment, I offer two simple ones. The first was offered by close friends: “We love bread. We love butter. But most of all, we love each other.” The other is one that emerged from our home ritual, which I gladly pass on to you: “Let us be thankful for the food before us, the love between us and the life ahead of us.”
Any intentional moment of cherishing community and/or claiming gratitude invites grace in. May such moments happen for and with you all year round.
Thank you for that. It is so easy in the hustle and bustle of our overly scheduled, overly connected lives to forget the most important connections- the connections to our family, our friends, our communities and the world around us. Thank you for the reminder that it is in the moments of intentional consideration of our reality that we can most often find those everyday miracles that it is too easy to take for granted, yet make up so much of the fabric of our happiness. Thank you for reminding me to pause…. And breathe…. And say thank you to the world.
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