Have you ever heard your Creator give thanks?

“Whether you realize it or not, I am a thankful God. Does that shock you? If so, let me tell you a few reasons I am thankful this year.”

• I am thankful that each morning I get to gaze into your waking eyes and drink in your warm, open face.

• I’m thankful for your union and communion with your earthly partner, Beth. Your love and humor bring me such delight.

• I’m thankful for your mom and your dad, for their faithful love and unstoppable spirits.

• I’m thankful for each of your children, and for how generously and creatively they love all my people. I feel deep and lasting joy for each one of them. And I’m so grateful for each of their pairings with their partners that bring such love and possibility.

• I’m thankful for each one of your grandchildren and their depth, their playfulness and their tender vitality.

• I’m so thankful for Fall Creek Abbey. For its place and presence in my world, and how it extends my shalom as a living, breathing space of hospitality.

• I’m thankful for Bongo and the home you’ve given him, and the love and joy you’ve brought each other.

• I’m thankful for your friends and the grounding place you provide for your unfolding lives sharing in your mutual joys and sorrows.

• I’m thankful for your neighbors and the familiar connective tissue your goodwill and gladness for one another brings. So many have names you know, and others are but faces to you, but have become faces that smile.

• I’m thankful for your prayers, for how your heart, your energy of spirit flows out to the needs and obstacles in my world, helping to prepare a way for me to draw nearer to each one.

• I’m thankful for your creative priorities, your music making, art expressing, word crafting impulses. Your recombining of what I’ve scattered brings me joy and is part of the world’s evolution.

• I’m thankful for the ones you serve in spiritual direction, career counseling, in hospitality and training. Thank you for the time, energy and heart you bring to each hour with these dear souls.

• I’m thankful for the communities you are grafted like a branch into. For the Table, for Saint Meinrad with her monks and oblates, and for this growing network of spiritual directors of Fall Creek Abbey.

“I could go on, my beloved child of creation. I could tell you how thankful I am for your people’s democracy and her ideals. For the ones who grow, harvest and deliver the good food that sustains you. For those who insure you have clean water, warm rooms and dry roofs. For nurses and doctors who risk their own health for the care and well-being of the vulnerable. For the scientists who tirelessly research to solve your planet’s pressing challenges. For the public servants in your governments and institutions. For the irrepressible heart-beat of your brother’s and sister’s pursuit for justice and mercy. I have much to be thankful for even this year when so much has changed so much. Tell me dear one, how does what you’re thankful for mirror my gratitude today?”