Celebrating with Joy & Gratitude the Divine Bounty Given: Part 1

Celebrating with Joy & Gratitude the Divine Bounty Given

November is traditionally the month we focus on giving thanks to God, the giver of all life, for the Divine blessing of the harvest from the earth that feeds us all.   Life feeds life, & all life does come from God, so regardless of the season, our response to God should be gratitude & joy for His gifts that sustain our lives every single day, not simply in one particular month.  Food is just one of the many ways in which God feeds & nourishes us.  God reveals Himself to us & feeds us, thus giving us life in many different ways; through the growing & harvesting of food to feed our bodies, through the proclamation of His Holy Word that feeds our Spirits, through the revelation of His glorious Creation that transcends understanding, & through the Divine endless bounty of His grace, mercy, love, & new life offered to all.  As recipients of life given in all its forms, one would think we would be rooted in thanks for our living God, prayerfully rejoicing & joyfully praising Him always.  We show our thanks to God by praising Him & reflecting His light to the world through our living.  However, the truth is, living from a place of continual thanksgiving to God is just not where we are all the time.  As grateful as we may feel, more than likely we’d all agree that it is a challenge to rejoice & live in a spirit of gratitude all the time.  Sometimes we just don’t feel happy regardless of how grateful we are in our hearts for the Divine bounty God bestows upon us in so many ways.  There are times when we allow other things in life to interfere & demand our attention & we lose our balance.  When that happens, prayers of thanksgiving & praise for our Living God can be forgotten.  Without gratitude & praise, the steadfast love of the Lord gets taken for granted & the peace that comes from living from a place of gratitude in partnership with God, often slips away allowing anxiety & worry to take over our spirits.

Anxiety & Worry versus Gratitude & Peace

There is no doubt that life can be a challenge, for we live in an age of anxiety.  There are a lot of things to feel concerned, anxious, worried, sad or angry about in life such as; illness, pain, suffering, terrorism, war, death, broken families, conflict, financial issues, loss, loneliness, fear, etc.  The pain of the world can seem so encompassing & overwhelming at times.  An attitude of negativity, anxiety & fear not only mutes our Spirit but contributes to making us physically & mentally unsettled & not well. It is difficult to radiate joy & gratitude when we are weighed down with sorrow, anxiety, pain, & despair.  It is common knowledge that stress & anxiety may cause us to become physically ill or may at the very least interfere with our healing.  Joy & gratitude for God, the giver of all life, rejoicing & prayerfully living from a spirit of gratitude on the other hand, contributes to peace, which leads to health & healing.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Spiritual Consultant with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy