This last week, families and churches in the United States celebrated Thanksgiving. On this day, families come together to give thanks for the blessings of the preceding year, and to celebrate over an abundant feast. I wish we had Thanksgiving in Australia – not just for the excuse to have an abundant feast (!), but for the opportunity it presents to take a step back, look at what has been this year, and realise the very real presence of God in it all.

The German mystic Meister Eckhart is reputed to have said that if the only prayer you make is “thank you,” that will suffice. My dear grandmother, each morning as she took her daily walk, gave thanks to God for the blessings in her life. Every day. Though she walked slowly through our neighbourhood, burdened by her age and the grief accompanying the many ordeals she experienced through her life, she often told me that she never ran out of things for which to be thankful. Her practice of thanksgiving shaped how she lived her life, faced her mortality, and related to others.

We live in a society with a lot less “thank you”, and a lot more “gimme now!” And yet, “thank you” can be said over and over again, not just to God for the blessings of this day, but to everyone whose life touches yours in a meaningful way. This kind of gratitude opens us to new blessings, but more importantly, it opens our hands to bless others – through time, talent, or treasure.

The late United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold once said:

For all that has been – thanks!

For all that will be – yes!

Thanksgiving is the gift of “yes” – yes to life, yes to blessing, yes to God, yes to possibility, and yes to others.

I encourage you: have a meal of Thanksgiving some time, and give thanks out loud – remember those who have supported you and upon whom you depend today; notice your interchanges with others’ and look for the movements of God in every interaction. Give thanks, out loud. Ours is a wonderful life that beckons us to give thanks not just annually, but at every turn.