In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, we offer this special meditation focusing on gratitude for everything in our lives. Remember that Thanksgiving isn’t just a holiday, it’s a valuable practice every day of the year!
This meditation features our special Thanksgiving affirmation, “Today, I give thanks”:
Today, I give thanks. Not just for a good meal, but for the chance to enjoy it with people who can enjoy it with me, and for the people whose hard work provided it.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for family, but also the friends who have become part of my family, and the parts of my family that I don’t see as often as I’d like to.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for the sunny skies that brighten my days, but also for the rains that nourish the life and the land around us.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for the things that bring me happiness, but also for the things that challenge me, and for the happiness I gain from the lessons they teach me.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for the ability to have a safe and happy home, but also for the opportunity to help others to create the same for themselves.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for my own freedom to think and to express myself and to worship in a way that brings me fulfillment, but also for that same freedom for others to do the same in their own unique ways, and for the possibilities of freedom for those who may not have it today.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for the abundance of blessings in my life, but also for the knowledge that we always have everything we need, and the opportunities to achieve what we want, and the ability to share our abundance wherever it is needed.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for the beautiful mountains and valleys that surround me, but also the peaks and valleys we experience in this life that give us the perspective to appreciate all we have.
Today, I give thanks. Not just for this life I have been blessed with, but also for the lives who have brought us where we are today, and for the lives of those yet to come.
Today, I give thanks. Not just to God and nature around me, but to the God and nature that express in each one of us, and makes us a part of a special world family on this wondrous planet we call home.
Today, I give thanks.
“Today, I give thanks” © 2016-2018 by Mark Stein.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The closing prayer is an adaptation of a Christmas blessing:
For food in a world where many walk in hunger,
adapted from the “Six Feet Under” episode
For faith in a world where many walk in fear,
For comfort in a world where many walk in pain,
For friends in a world where many walk alone,
We give thanks, Infinite Spirit,
For all of the many blessings we share this day.
Amen
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,”
aired April 21, 2002 on HBO