Happy Thanksgiving, Canada, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  For many people, Thanksgiving Day is a focus day to reflect on all the things that have happened through the year.  Usually, the focus is on the happy things.  However, sometimes, we need to focus on the things that did not go right for us.  It is in the “bad” things that the lessons on life are hidden.

One of the lessons that I have learned over time is that one needs to travel through each day with an “attitude of gratitude”.  As trite as the saying sounds, it carries with it the deepest lesson of life which is allowing an opening for the Universe to bring blessings and abundance to your life.

This year, it seems we have faced many challenges in our country, as have other countries, including our neighbor, the United States.  As you look at the list of our challenges, now is a great time to think about what the lesson is in the challenge, and how it applies to you, the individual, and your family.

• Droughts
• Floods
• Lack of food
• Lack of love
• No electricity or heat (blackouts)
• Heavy winds
• Tornados/hurricanes
• Heavy snow/snow storms
• Ice storms
• Sleet in great quantities
• Acts of terror
• Did-ease in its many forms
• Break down in relationships
• Increasing suicides
• General personal tragedy

When you complete your reflection or meditation, you may want to offer up this simple prayer written years ago by Abigail van Buren.

O, heavenly Father: We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
that thy gifts to us may be used for others.
Amen.

In gratitude,

Submitted by Judith Hirst, Public Relations Committee