Monday Manna
Trust, courage, and gratitude...
If you are new to Monday Manna, I’m so glad you are here. My prayer with this little pause on Monday mornings is to offer some nourishment (“manna”) for you — via my reflection, prayer, and painting — as you are nourishing the world around you. Together, we are watching for the ways God is with us and for us as we take one day at a time….
Good morning, friends, and warmth, love, and hope to you…
I missed sending out some manna last week after a surprise stretch of days with our youngest child recovering from a hospital visit. There were very long days and very little sleep — colon blockages are no joke, and who knew how suddenly they could arise! Our little Noah is now back to his Dennis-the-Menace self, full of verve and vigor! I am so relieved and grateful.
And speaking of gratitude, here we are, friends. The week of Thanksgiving already. I’ve been remembering Thanksgivings from my childhood, particularly the tradition at my home church in South Dakota. Every year on the Wednesday eve of Thanksgiving, there was a meal at church. A faithful group of deacons wearing white aprons would cook all day in the hot, linoleum-laden kitchen, creating a turkey feast with all the fixings.
And in the evening, we’d gather in the Covenant Center/gym in the church’s lower level with countless round tables set up. While our family, along with lots of church members and their families, always came, it was also the tradition to invite people from a couple of the church’s mission partners. There was always a large group from the Glory House, which at the time, served as a transitional home for people who’d recently left prison. And then a lively group of boys and young men from the McCrossan Boys Ranch, which supported youth in at-risk, hard situations. We’d eat the same meal every year, following the food with some group signing with the piano. “Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart” was always on the song list.
I have a fresh appreciation now that I didn’t have as a child for the ways this meal embodied not only what Thanksgiving is about — all kinds of people sharing one table— but the spirit of what real gratitude is. For some of those gathered, life had been really hard, often due to trauma beyond their control. And circumstances were still challenging.
But what if gratitude really doesn’t have to do with feeling something, but with choosing something? (I’ll be sharing Diana Butler Bass’ beautiful prayer on this below…)
I returned last week to a meaningful podcast I’d listened to a few years ago. It was an interview with Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk and teacher/author on the subject of gratitude who lived during the Nazi-regime. He founded the Network for Grateful Living, and has a profound and inspiring story. In his interview with Krista Tippett, which I hope you will listen to, he talked about how gratitude is not just being present in the moment, but looking for the opportunity in the moment. There is no way we can be grateful for all the circumstances in our lives, but we can choose gratitude in those circumstances.
He had this beautiful line, among many…
Everything hinges on [our] trust in life. Trust. And with this trust, with this faith, we go into [our] anxiety and say: It’s terrible, it feels awful, but I trust that it is just another birth into a greater fullness. *
I love this framing of what a grateful life looks like. It’s based on trust and courage. Trusting God is with you in the flow of your life, and having courage to claim the opportunities offered to you in it.
As we gather this week around tables — maybe/likely with people who see the world a little bit differently than we do — I hope above all else that we will choose gratitude by looking for what God’s Spirit is offering us in this moment. And choosing to give ourselves fully to it.
A Prayer
Something a little different this week…I often share a prayer from my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life, but really needed to share this beautiful prayer written by Rev. Diana Butler Bass . It resonated so deeply in my own heart, and I pray it does in yours. Shared with permission…
A Thanksgiving Prayer: We Choose Gratitude
Adapted from Grateful: The Subversive Power of Giving Thanks
by Diana Butler Bass
GOD, there are many days we do not feel grateful.
When we are anxious or angry. When we feel alone. When we do not understand what is happening in the world or with our neighbors. When the news is bleak and confusing. When there are threats, injustice, violence, and war.
We struggle to feel grateful.
But this Thanksgiving, we choose gratitude.
We choose to accept life as a gift from you, and as a gift from the unfolding work of all creation.
We choose to be grateful for the earth from which our food comes; for the water that gives life; and for the air we all breathe.
We choose to thank our ancestors, those who came before us, for their stories and struggles; we receive their wisdom as a continuing gift for today.
We choose to see our families and friends with new eyes, accepting them for who they are.
We are thankful for our homes, whether humble or grand.
We choose to appreciate and care for our neighbors whatever our differences or how much we feel hurt or misunderstood by them.
We choose to open our hearts to those who dwell among us in the shadows of uncertainty and fear, recognizing their full dignity and humanity.
We choose to see the world as our shared commons, our home now and the legacy we will leave to the generations to come.
God, this Thanksgiving, we do not give thanks. We choose it.
We will make this choice of thanks with courage, knowing that it is humbling to say “thank you.”
We choose to open ourselves to your sacred generosity, aware that we live in an unending circle of gratitude. We all are guests at your hospitable table around which gifts are passed and received.
We will not let anything opposed to love take over this table.
Instead of giving into fear, we embrace grace, love, and the gifts of life at this table. In this choosing, and in the sharing of this meal, we are strengthened to pass gratitude on to the world.
Thus, with you, with all those gathered at this table, and with those at tables far distant, we pledge to make thanks.
We ask you to strengthen us in this resolve.
Here, now, and into the future. Around our family table. Around the table of our nation. Around the table of the earth.
We choose thanks. Amen.
Something that nourished me recently…
*Of course, Noah’s healing, but then seeing this little guy play in our first snowfall, along with his siblings…
*Reading and re-reading a couple of Thanksgiving books together with the kids. Phyllis Alsdurf was a professor of mine at Bethel, and I love the story of this tradition — a Thanksgiving meal where the group of people is a bit different each year and all are welcome, gathering at a make-shift table in the woods for Thanksgiving. And the Cherokee story of Otsaliheliga has been a favorite around here for a long time.
*And speaking of gratitude…Finally — finally!! — writing my watercolor postcards to those who’ve made donations to Monday Manna. I can’t express how much that’s meant.
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Amazon link!
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ You can view previous Substack Monday Manna reflections as a paid subscriber here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website.
*WHAT DOES MANNA MEAN? ~ Check out an earlier post to learn how this little bit of “daily bread” got its name…
*Getting to guest preach yesterday at my friend’s congregation down the road nourished my heart. I preached on the Kin-dom of God for “Reign of Christ” Sunday and focused on Who our real anchor is and the totally different kingdom/kin-dom he’s creating with and through us.
I’ll close with this sweet video on gratitude made by our church kids in the last couple of weeks…Thanks to my precious friend, Lindley, for putting it all together! These videos are a labor of love…
Wishing you all a blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving, and that we will choose gratitude together ~
Love and Light,
Arianne
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Loved the video!!!!
Glad Noah is OK! I'm choosing Thanksgiving! Thankful for you.