My Vows For Thanksgiving

Dear Kids, 

We take being grateful for things too lightly in our society. 

This is the time of year to count our blessings, and I really do love the tradition. But my thoughts really take me to other parts of gratitude as well, and why aren't we living in gratitude all the time? Why is it so accepted to be grateful now at this time of year, but then forget it for the other 11 months? Here are a few gratitude questions, thoughts and vows from me to you:


The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.  ~H.U. Westermayer

Are we really remembering the people who came before us? I have a bed and a wonderful home and shelter because of people who sacrificed who came before me. I promise I will not forget to teach you about their sacrifices.


When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time.  Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?  ~G.K. Chesterton

I have legs to run! I have eyes to see! I have ears to hear! There are countless stories throughout time of people who have been in the most dire circumstances, but found gratitude and beauty in life simply because they still had legs and feet, eyes and ears, hands and health.


Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.  ~W.T. Purkiser

We can say all we want with our mouths that we are grateful, but are we really? Are we really living gratefully? Or are we complaining more than we are thanking in our everyday speech? These are questions to ask ourselves as a family often. Are we saying we are grateful with our mouths, but in our hearts we are really not? Are we saying it and not really feeling it?


You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. ~Kahlil Gibran

So easy to pray for help. Are we praying in gratitude everyday as well? I promise that we will not go a day without having a prayer that is just full of gratitude.
 
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
 
I want you to remember to live in gratitude for everything. The best way to teach you = me living that way. I can do better saying, 'Thank You'. I can do better really being grateful for the hardships everyday. I can do better teaching myself to be truly grateful in my heart for the things that are really hard. It takes practice to be grateful for EVERYTHING in life.

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.  ~Cynthia Ozick   

We can say all we want that we are grateful for each other and that we are 'grateful for our family'. But are we truly loving each other everyday? Or do we get impatient with each other? Do we have contention too much with each other? Or are we reacting with love and with gratitude toward each other as our immediate reaction?

I love you. 

Your Mom