Sometimes funny situations teach great lessons.
It was the usual schedule: up at 4:30 am, out the door by 5 am to take my son to ice hockey practice, pickup another hockey team mate on the way to the rink, dash home, get ready for work and head out the door again. On this morning though, I realized Thanksgiving was just days away and I had not done the grocery shopping. At this point, I had cooked on Thanksgiving for so many years I knew the menu and the grocery list by heart. So as I drove the boys to hockey practice I realized I’d be very close to a grocery store that was open 24 hours a day. So I made a mental shopping list and heading straight to the grocery store from the ice rink.
There were only a few shoppers in the store, but the aisles were full of staff stocking the shelves for the rush of grocery purchases. I zipped along. My shopping basket brimming with the fixings for our feast. The last aisle was the frozen food section. As I stood in front of the glass door contemplating the frozen vegetables, I noticed my reflection in the frame of the freezer door. I WAS IN MY PAJAMAS!! I laughed out loud!
As I drove home with my groceries I decided I needed to rediscover the thankful part of Thanksgiving. I realized that in my hurry, hurry life I was not living graciously. I was like the plate spinner at the circus. Recognizing that something needs to change and actually doing it can be a true challenge. In my daily prayer practice, I changed something. Instead of listing all of the day’s activities and then asking for help to accomplish them, I took a different approach. I began my prayer with gratitude that God was an ever-present, all power of good; I listened more. This change wasn’t just for a day or a week, it became my regular daily prayer. And life became less frenetic and more joyful.
There are researchers who have been focusing on the beneficial effects of gratitude. One study (sited in a Harvard Health News Letter) found that, “gratitude…helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals.” Another effect was, “fewer visits to physicians.”
Each year as I get ready to enjoy this holiday with family and friends I think of this story and laugh. But I continue to be grateful for the lesson learned.
Gratitude is sweetest when it is shared. Please leave your Thanksgiving moment!
I have never been grocery shopping in my pajamas. However, it reminds me to be grateful to Stormy for her tireless work in sharing the healing message of the Christ with the media and legislators in the fair state of Georgia.
I am also grateful for the Bible. We are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James translation this year. I’ve enjoyed reading about the intense personal sacrifices made all those centuries ago in order for us to read the Word of God in our own language. Today there are many that want to point out the contradictions or the difficulties with the Bible. I’ve read their concerns, but none of those arguments change the fact of its current and persistent value. It tells of the spiritual evolution of mankind in a way that is forever relevant. It’s words have comforted and healed me and my family — not just psychological healing, but physical healing: chicken pox, broken bones, eye infections, astigmatism, gout, etc. Through the lens of Science and Health it has been my “chart of Life”. My gratitude is boundless for the authors, translators, publishers, scholars and healers whose lifework has centered on this masterpiece known as the Holy Bible.
Thanks Halle!
Everyone had something to share that Thanksgiving Day at my church. I was not quite a teenager and wasn’t sure I had anything importance to ad to the gratitude being expressed by so many people at that service, but I sincerely wanted to share something thoughtful and helpful to me and to all gathered for that special day.
Near to the closing remarks by the First Reader, still nothing had come to me, but I stood up anyway–really trusting that something would pop into thought to be shared if I just got ready for the “big event.”
And, it did. I said simply, “I thank God for all of the bad things I haven’t had to go through this past year, because I am a Christian Scientist, and I know that God is Love. He protects, guides and guards me all of the time.” When I sat back down, I knew my prayer had been answered that morning, and the magnitude of what I shared has grown since then–over more than half a century ago.
I have thought of this event many times in the ensuing years–especially on Thanksgiving Day as I sit in church quietly praying about what I might share with my fellow Christian Scientists. And, I think out of all the testimonies of gratitude I have shared at Thanksgiving services, this remains my favorite one.
Thanks Don!
Stormy thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving moment and especially your thought that gratitude is sweetest when shared. It reminded me of our family’s tradition over many years.
My parents were students of Christian Science and relied on prayer and its teachings for all needs. My parents were blessed with owning their own grocery store so on Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve before we closed to celebrate our gratitude the family would gather to put together baskets of food for those who were without family or friends. I recall how as we drove around town delivering the baskets the gratitude that was not only expressed by those receiving the baskets but the “huge” swelling of gratitude within me as a kid. It was big. I now know that to be the Christ within. Every day is Thanksgiving day to me as I have been so blessed with God’s gracious gifts from above.
I love that Mrs. Eddy provided for a special service in the Christian Science churches and throughout my life they provided me a true sense of what the holidays were really about. This year, as in many past, our family will gather in fun, sharing our thoughts of gratitude. I love hearing the young ones express what they are grateful for and so God continues to guide, guard and govern Life. This I am most grateful for.
Thank you so much for the blogs. I love your sharing.
Thank you, Stormy for this smile to my day. I can just see you laughing out loud at the hilarity of shopping in your P.J.’s!!! And yes…I also much appreciate the sweet sense of gratitude you and the other ‘commenters’ have expressed. We Canadians have already had this day of gratitude, but how wondeful we get to share in yours all over again!
Much love ~Wendy
What a great story and wonderful lesson! “Thank you” so much for sharing it with us all – letting “your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” – even when you’re in your PJ’s!!!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
I am grateful for the above blog and also for all of our beautiful Science and Health MARTA train signs (60 in all)which are now in place with the very large (lit up at night bus shelter sign at a great location in midtown) bus shelter sign being installed this morning. The timing is absolutely perfect as MARTA ridership doubles and triples during this Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday season. If anyone cares for a picture of one of the train signs just send me an e-mail (workingwithdave@yahoo.com). I am at work now but I’ll get it to you sometime today.
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I just received a link to this site from Karrell, and wonder why I did not know about it sooner. I can not imagine going shopping in my PJ’s, but I am very grateful for what you have shared here. Love and gratitude are amazing, and I am trying express more of it everyday. Thank you.