Poem: When Giving Is All We Have

One river gives
Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.

                            Alberto Ríos

Lyrics: Count My Blessings

In and out
Of situations
I take the good with the bad
Ups and downs
Get complicated
But ain't got no right
To be sad

How about the children who are hungry
And never get to eat
How about the people who are homeless
Sleeping in the street

Every night
Before I go to sleep
I count my blessings
Instead of sheep
I say a prayer
My soul to keep
I count my blessings

When I hear
The sound of complaining
I put my hands to my ears
Think of those
Whose lives have been taken
And thank the Lord I am here

I've got some money in my pocket
A hand I can hold
Somebody standing by me
When winter gets too cold

Every night
Before I go to sleep
I count my blessings
Instead of sheep
I say a prayer
My soul to keep
I count my blessings

I'd give some away
Share in my good fortune
Hear me when I say
I'll give some away

How about the people who are starving
And never get to eat
How about the children in the desert
Dying from the heat

Every night
Before I go to sleep
I count my blessings
Instead of sheep
I tell the Lord
My soul to keep
I count my blessings

            The Nylons, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXYNe6j0WDc 

 

 

 

The highest appreciation

Today we give our thanks, most of all,
for the ideals of honor and faith
we inherit from our forefathers —
for the decency of purpose,
steadfastness of resolve and strength of will,
for the courage and the humility,
which they possessed
and which we must seek every day to emulate.

As we express our gratitude,
we must never forget that the highest appreciation
is not to utter words but to live by them.
Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude
to Providence for manifold blessings —
let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals —
and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals
with our fellow human beings throughout the world.

President John F. Kennedy
Proclamation 3560 - Thanksgiving Day, 1963, November 5, 1963

 

 

 

Poem: Thanksgiving Magic

Thanksgiving Day I like to see

Our cook perform her witchery.

She turns a pumpkin into pie

As easily as you or I

Can wave a hand or wink an eye.

She takes leftover bread and muffin

And changes them to turkey stuffin’.

She changes cranberries to sauce

And meats to stews and stews to broths;

And when she mixes gingerbread

It turns into a man instead

With frosting collar ’round his throat

And raisin buttons down his coat.

Oh, some like magic made by wands,

   And some read magic out of books,

And some like fairy spells and charms

   But I like magic made by cooks!

                        Rowena Bastin Bennett

 

 

 

 

 

Answering a call

There is a built-in sense of indebtedness
in the consciousness of man,
an awareness of owing gratitude,
or being called upon at certain moments
to reciprocate, to answer,
to live in a way which is compatible
with the grandeur and mystery of living.

    Abraham Joshua Heschel, No Religion Is an Island 

 

 

 

 

Where joy resides

Gratitude begins in our hearts
and then dovetails into behavior.
It almost always makes you willing to be of service,
which is where the joy resides.

    Anne Lamott, Thanks: The Second Essential Prayer