Here is a video produced by the Kindspring.org movement, which rallies people worldwide in the name of benevolence. It is not quite like the many wonderful efforts to show how simple acts of helpfulness can spread like a song. Rather it is about the feeling of thankfulness, and what it looks like in our faces and hands. This four minute clip is delightfully multicultural, even including sign language. After watching it I have more pictures of what I am striving to weave into my life. 

This weekend was dedicated to Thanksgiving. Or at least it was supposed to be. Commercial enterprise has usurped the tail end of it in a rather lopsided way. Two of my grown kids punched the clock on Friday, and one on Thursday too. But at the heart of it Thanksgiving is meant to pivot around gratitude. 

I notice that my own appreciative spirit grows best in the compost of loss. When I hear of a friend struggling with health issues, I notice my own working body more acutely. When my children have been gone for months and they walk through the door I hug them tighter than the ones who have been here all along. Every time I hear of a disintegrating marriage, I grab John and hold on. My relief at arriving safely at my destination is magnified after a near miss on the road. 

One of the things that yanks shoppers out of bed on black Friday is the threat that there is not enough to go around. Limited supplies! First 100 shoppers only! But when it comes to gratitude, the stream is unlimited.