To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything.

— Thomas Merton

Greetings, Inspired Seekers:

Happy holiday season! Although, for many of us, it's always holiday season – if we can be still enough to enter into it fully.

This is the time we gather with family and friends while, at the same time, we sit in grateful contemplation. All of this for the express purpose of giving thanks. I hope.

And, as a clergy person, I offer this – you don't need us – as sad as that is for me to say. You don't need a priest, a Rabbi, a Shaman, a Monk, an Imam or any other “ordained” soul to give thanks. We can all give thanks; we can all recognize the Divine within us and we can all share it with the world. Whatever your path, within it is power. And that power is love. For when we give thanks with great love, we discover the God within. We open ourselves up to the gifts of holiness that we have been given, not by other people, but by the Spirit.

And so, in addition to toasting, feasting and enjoying each other's company, it is critical that we set aside time to sit in stillness and listen to the whispers of wisdom. Those whispers that come from the still, small voice of The Creator and speak to our souls when we are in contemplation.

And, while preaching is one of the joys of my ministry, we do not need brilliant sermons to connect to the Holy One. We are already intertwined, through grace.

The mystics not only understand this symbiotic relationship, they experience it. They feel it in their bones. And that Oneness is not reserved for a few; it is available to all of us. In those contemplative moments, we rest in God and God in us – however we define the Deity.

Great thanks, like great love, is always freely offered. It comes without strings and is never forced or imposed. Love and thanks are a reciprocal exchange, blessing both the giver and the receiver. Freely offered and freely accepted, between the human and The Divine, in harmony.

So, when you gather at your Thanksgiving tables, pause, take a moment and enter into the holy. There is no greater Thanks-giving than that.

With deep thanks for you,
Reverend Deborah

Question of the Month: How will you enter the mystical relationship of Thanks-giving?

The Reverend Dr. Deborah Darlington offers thanks to all faith traditions for the expansion of our own faith, through understanding and compassion. She can be reached at GraceMatters@TheSpaceForGrace.com or at 215 260 1611.