Author: itoccurstocp

Photo of our cat on his bed he allows us to use.

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”  Oscar Wilde

As I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and the debut of a new season of Christmas themed commercials that tug at heartstrings, this quote came to mind.  The holidays are filled with emotions, yes, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but unless that feeling is accompanied by action, those emotions fall in the “if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it still make a noise” category.  Go ahead, put money in the kettle.  Smile at the harried cashier.  Act on the emotions – the good ones anyway.

Here I am two days after Thanksgiving and still thinking about gratitude.  It might be a new record!  Hang with me here.

Recently I pulled an old pair of socks from the sock drawer and I noticed the feet were full of holes, really full of holes as in they had more holes than feet.  I realized the time had come to toss then, so I did, but reluctantly, with some regret.  That seems pretty mundane, I know, but I really liked those socks.  Really liked them.  Initially, after processing through wondering if I could find an identical pair (I tried, I can’t) I tried to dredge up a memory of the last time I wore them, and couldn’t.  Heck, I should have appreciated them more then, and each time I put them on.  (Yes, that is the Catholic Guilt a youth of catholic school and nuns trains you for.)

That got me to thinking of various songs and passages that go to that point – that I should be filled with gratitude for what is and treat each experience, each interaction, even each breath as if it were the last – because it just might be.  It seems a nice sentiment, but that last part is what I got hung on.  Yes, I should be filled with gratitude, but can’t I just stop there.  Need my gratefulness be tied to dark thought that what I am grateful for is ephemeral and might be ripped away from me in some tragic event?  Need I guilt my way to gratitude?

In this I was reminded of a quote from Thomas Merton: “Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder.”

Gratitude is vigilant awareness and responsiveness to the wonder occurring around me – and there’s plenty of that.

Today from Oswald Chambers:

“Beware of ‘the cares of this world,’ because they are the things that produce a wrong temper of soul.  It is extraordinary what an enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention from God.  Refuse to be swamped with the cares of this life.”

I so want to fight back on this.  It sounds haughty, unrealistic, and Pollyannaish – reactions  which likely makes it even more worthy of my attention.  Of course, that this is exactly what I need to hear going into Advent as I “prepare the way” for Christmas.  I can get solace, if I need it, from the verbiage.  Chambers does not suggest that I “ignore” the “cares of this life,” only that I “refuse to be swamped” by them.  But I must acknowledge the truth in his statement.  Whatever “cares of this life” I let in, no matter how simple they are, they have the ability to distract my attention from God just as a small hole in a boat hull has the ability to sink it.

It occurs to me that Chambers has delivered a good mantra as I head into Christmas.  As I move toward, contemplate and celebrate Christmas – “Refuse to be swamped with the cares of this life.”

Okay.  Now comes the hard part.

One of the fine things about holidays is that there is a license to meander a bit with less of an eye on the clock – which explains how I could find myself today reading JFK’s Presidential Proclamation 3560 issued in November 1963, shortly before his assassination.

“Yet, as our power has grown, so has our peril. 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.”

These are fine words indeed, but as stated, the challenge is not simply to “utter words” but to “live by them.”  As JFK noted in the Proclamation, we are called to share our blessings and ideals.  Note the choice of “share” instead of “covet” or “flout” or “impose” or other such words that might replace “share.”

In declaring November 28, 1963 a national day of thanksgiving, JFK challenged us all:

“On that day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.”

It occurs to me that more than 50 years later, that prayer should remain on our lips, and that those are not only words to utter, but to live by.

Oswald Chambers offers this advice today:

“Be careful of the production of contempt in yourself, [it] causes you to go about as a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than you are.  Beware of posing as a profound person; God became a baby.”

Ouch!  It occurs to me that phrases I utter and hear these days – “how could anyone” or “I just don’t understand how” or worse – are signs of the very contempt Chambers warns of.  Indeed, it seems quite easy these days to “go about as a walking rebuke to other people.”  We have turned it around and become quick to speak and slow to listen.

On my current playlist is Most People, a song by the group Dawes – a song my kids beat me to.  Anyway, the line in the chorus that grabs me is this: “Most people don’t think enough about how lucky they are.”  I suppose I could quibble and replace “lucky” with “blessed” or some other word, but I will resist the urge and simply agree with them.  It is easy to bitch and moan about what is wrong, about what should be but isn’t – so easy that I forget to think enough about how lucky I am.

Photo taken of Painted Church near LaGrange, Texas