On this new Thanksgiving day, it is so easy to take for granted that tomorrow will come – that another opportunity will be given to witness a sunrise, to spend a moment with those we love, to be astonished at the crystals in the newly fallen snow, to behold the majesty of the deer on our morning walk.
But another part knows it is so fragile here, so precarious, so outrageously precious, and that this opening into life will not be here forever. In a future moment, breath will no longer be given and we will be asked to say goodbye.
Remembering this, let us honor this new day by no longer postponing our lives, by not waiting any longer to participate, by living what truly matters, becoming a vessel in which love can come alive here.
Doing whatever we can to help others, so that they feel felt when we are together. To slow down, look at and listen to them and honor the validity of their inner experience, to bear witness to the sacredness of an unfolding human soul. To stay attuned to the ways they are longing to find meaning in a world that at times can seem so lost.
At the end of this life, it is unlikely we'll be asking if we accomplished all the tasks on our to-do lists, manifested all the things we dreamed we wanted, played it safe, perfected ourselves, or “mastered” life.
In that moment, there may be only one burning question left: how well did I love?
Did I pause each day to truly touch a moment and experience it all the way through, entering into communion with the unknown activity of the beloved as it emerges here? Was I willing to take a risk, to feel more, to care deeply about this life and to allow it all to matter?
What is it that remains unlived… for you? And what will you give to know this? To break the trance of postponement, end the spell of unworthiness, and illuminate the dream that tomorrow is always going to come.
The bounty and the harvest of thanksgiving is upon you, always already here, the true Kingdom, erupting in the here and now as the cells of your very own heart.
I hope I make it all the way through this sweetest of ever thanksgiving days, but if for some reason I do not, this would have been enough. I have been given so much more than enough.
Photo by Carl De Souza
My latest book – The Path Is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You – is now available
The next book, The Unfolding Heart, will be published by Sounds True in early 2020, details to come
The next event is The Healing Shame Retreat: Spiritual Awakening and Transforming the Core Wound of Unworthiness, April 24-29, 2019 at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado, with co-facilitator Jeff Foster