With its mixed media delights, November is Gratitude Month, a time to pause and reflect on being thankful for life's blessings. When Fran Haley, teacher-writer slicer, introduced the word holy as the prompt for the Spiritual Journey Thursday community (SJT) this month, I paused to ponder the meaning of the word in my life. Holy is a word I learned during catechism studies as a child. As I grew, I remained in faith and heard the word holy repeated often but I never intently considered the significance of this small word. With this in mind, I searched for quotes that would bring clarity. I found one written by a revered Jewish theologian and philosopher, Abraham Joshua Heschel. "Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy."
I have tried repeatedly to "just be", meditate quietly, and pause often to find small delights to be thankful for but my impatient side often has me racing toward a lengthy to-do list. It is difficult to just be when there is an ominous pressure surrounding me. Piles of papers dealing with household tasks and my son's disability case detract from the beauty of Thanksgiving decorations and memories of sun-golden days of autumn like the scene below.
Perhaps, the act of just being is one I talk about but it is not always part of my actions. I think of myself as a work in progress, pausing, reflecting, and acting. I question the constant movement so now, I sit still in between tasks remembering the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything this is beautiful for beauty is God's handwriting." Even the rain tapping against my windows reminds me to look and find thanks for earth's gifts. For a few minutes, I enjoy the silence after the rain. Being in the moment is a sacred act of thanksgiving. I thank my fellow SJT writers for their perspective on Fran Haley's reverent and inspirational prompt holy that you can access here. As I reread the words of my fellow SJT writers, I discovered a line or two from each of their blogs and created a poem.
Enjoy your pre-Thanksgiving preparations. This time of year is always filled with the spirit of family, beauty of the earth, and blessings from a bountiful harvest.
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For now, I turn my thoughts to the fabulous kidlit author, poet, and nature photographer, Buffy Silverman as the host of this week's Poetry Friday. She is sharing a sneak peek of Laura Purdie Salas' upcoming book, Finding Family. It is sure to capture the heart of readers. Please click here to access Buffy's blog post filled with more poetic goodness from the Poetry Friday community of poets.
