Pass it on

It seems like just days ago that we were outside without jackets in a gentle breeze that hardly even hinted at the dramatic seasonal changes about to unfold.  The transformation in front of us right now is not only about the weather, however.  We're about to flip a switch that will move us from fall to the generic season called "holiday"  - with barely a passing glance at Thanksgiving along the way.

As merchants gear up to make the most of their year-end sales, it's hard not to get swept up in the red-and-green holly-jolly excitement that has gradually rebranded Thanksgiving more as as a gateway to Christmas than a deep ritual celebration in its own right.  Personally, I like to take things a little bit more slowly, savoring the autumn hues until they completely fade away and allowing some dedicated calendar space for a deeper kind of gratitude than we tend to live in our workaday lives.

Whether an everyday habit or a special ritual, gratitude is good for us.  Harvard Medical School reports an impressive body of research that draws a strong and consistent parallel between gratitude and measures of health and happiness. "Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."  I would posit, that by extension, gratitude makes the world a better place, too, because grateful people who humbly recognize their gifts instinctively share them with others.

Further, when we acknowledge the goodness in our lives, we usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies outside ourselves. As a result, gratitude also helps us connect to our own identity as spiritual beings.  

It takes a certain maturity to understand this, even to feel authentic gratitude, and, therefore, to benefit from it.  This is why we need to be especially intentional about forming our children for this healthy - and holy - lifestyle.  Beginning in the season of Advent, we will have a rich opportunity to do just that as we expand our Share-a-Meal (SAM) program from a monthly to a weekly collection. 

New third grade teacher Jan Ebel has challenged us to prioritize this child-to-child connection to families in need.  We agree with her that having sharing on our minds continually will help us to better form disciples that instinctively pass their gratitude forward.

Please help your children to select a food pantry item for your weekly grocery list as a matter of habit.  Choosing it themselves will help form a conscious gratitude.  Paying for it themselves will help begin a lifetime of responsible stewardship.

Gratitude is good for us and good for those around us.  Savor it...and pass it on!