Gratefulness and Giving Thanks

I friend who just returned from the MidEast sent an mail today which started "may our hope for the future lie in our gratitude for the present." With Thanksgiving Day almost upon us, my thoughts turn to the word thank: "to say that one is pleased and grateful for something given or done; express gratitude to; grateful thought; gratitude."

For me, the feast we participate in preparing and eating on Thanksgiving Day is an expression of our care and gratitude for the Earth which provides us with the food, the farmers who helped the Earth to provide the food, and the people we share the food with. Sometimes here in the US we get caught up in the feast, and forget that this holiday is all about thanks and gratitude, and caring for everyone all over the Earth.

For several months now I have been greeted each morning when I first check my e-mail, by a daily "Word for the Day" quote sent to me by Gratefullnes.org
These wonderful quotes have many times set the tone for my day--always to positive note, and then my day progresses with harmony and ease. It seems I need that daily reminder to be truly grateful each day for all I have; what I have learned is that when I am grateful my life flows easier, and when I express that gratitude to the people around me, my life is transformed in unexpected ways.

Here is sample of the "Word for the Day"--which I thought was particularly appropriate for the day of Giving Thanks:
"A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other people, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the full measure I have received and am still receiving."---Albert Einstein