Gratitude for All that has Brought Us Here

In this time of gratitude and generosity, kindness and kinship, we are reminded that we are all one. Nowhere have I felt that more keenly than at the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County’s Annual Thanksgiving Service: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks. Representatives from a huge variety of faith traditions contributed to the service, including readings from the Unitarian Universalist, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Baha’I, Islamic, Humanist and Judaic traditions. On behalf of Prairiewoods, I was honored to read this excerpt from Henri Nouwen, Catholic priest, theologian and writer:

“To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives—the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections—that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say thank-you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let us not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see it in the guiding hand of a loving God.”

Today and every day, I am grateful for Prairiewoods and all that has brought me here and into relationship with each of you.

—Andi Lewis, Prairiewoods marketing coordinator

Posted Nov. 29, 2018