Gratitude And What It Means

Dear Kids,

It is Thanksgiving this week, and of course the tradition is to talk about what I am grateful for.

I am having a hard time getting into this tradition this year... not because I am not grateful or don't feel gratitude, but because I don't know how to describe my blessings without feeling inadequate to the job.

How can I really describe, "I am grateful for my family"? It sounds so 'normal', and too 'common' when I say it like that. What I want to say is, "Is there anyway to stand on the top of the entire globe and shout with the whole feeling in my soul how I can hardly contain my emotions for my family? No! The feeling inside of my heart is too big to even begin to just say 'I am grateful for my family'".

Or how can I describe, "I am grateful for my health"? That also sounds too shallow, especially when I know I have no idea what it is like to have a life threatening disease, or have a family member who is constantly dealing with pain. I don't know what that is like. But I do know I am truly grateful for my health because I don't have to worry about those things.

Or how can it adequately be expressed the "I am grateful for my husband"? I live and breathe and love and grow everyday more because of him than anyone else in my life thus far. He is my soul, he connects with my spirit, he helps me to heal, he helps me to live and to love.

This word 'Gratitude' comes in so many forms to so many different people and so many different circumstances. I, for one, truly believe that it is because of our trials that we can even understand anything about the meaning of 'Gratitude'. That is the power of the law of opposites.

I can truly say that I am SO GRATEFUL for my husband because I was single and looking for him for so long. If I hadn't had the pain of what being single means, I wouldn't understand so fully the joy for being married. I can truly say that I am undeniably grateful for all of you, because I truly felt the pain of what is like to not have you in my life, as well as the pain it took to get you all here. I am so eternally grateful for my blessings - but they are so vast, so immense and so deep, there is no way that I can really express the depth of my gratitude.

Gratitude grows through life experiences. The more experiences I have, the deeper my gratitude grows. So know when I say at the Thanksgiving table, "I am so grateful for my life and my family" really the depth of what that means, and I pray that I can show my gratitude for you everyday of my life.

I love you,

Your Mom