“Showing gratitude is
one of the simplest,
yet most powerful things
humans can do for each other.” 
Randy Pausch

It’s 11:30 on Thursday morning — Thanksgiving Day 2023. The brilliant sunlight is highlighting the fall colors of the trees outside my window. What a show! Our home is filled with the delightful aroma of the twenty-pound turkey baking in the oven. Again this year, Kathy is putting together a delicious feast for our family to celebrate this special day. Am I grateful? Oh, yeah.

Although I mention this every year, I’ll say it again today: Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. Gratitude has been the dominant theme in my life for the past seventeen years, yet I continue to be challenged by the insightful words of Charles Dickens. He wrote, “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” No one’s life has been perfect. We’ve all experienced difficult times and experiences. Despite this, there is still so much for which to be grateful.

During my seventeen-year gratitude journey, I’ve learned much about the power of gratitude. To embrace it, to experience it, and to express it can be life-changing. Gratitude does, without a doubt, make a difference. Brother David Steindl-Rast is considered to be one of the gurus of gratitude in the world today. He points out, “It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” A profound thought, for sure.

Sadly, it is all too common for people to deprive themselves of the joy of gratitude by constantly comparing themselves to those around them. President Theodore Roosevelt warned, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” There will always be those who have more — a nicer car, a bigger home, etc. It’s easy to focus on what others have and feel deprived or deficient. The words of Ernest Hemingway encourage us to look at our lives in a different way. He wrote, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what is there.”

With the Christmas season just around the corner, there will be countless opportunities for all of us to be generous with what we have, even if all we have is time. We can express our gratitude for our own gifts by doing things for others. William Arthur Ward pointed out, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” Why would we ever do this?

On this Thanksgiving Day, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you — whoever you are. If you are reading this blog post, you are a part of my life, even if we’ve never met. As a writer, I am tremendously grateful for those who take the time to read what I’ve written. I hope my words make a positive difference in your life.