A Thanksgiving weekend message

So this is the Thanksgiving weekend holiday in the United States, and I hope that all people around the world stop for a moment and send thoughts of gratitude and love to our wonderful God for the breathtaking world that has been created by us for us. Then I hope that we will, each of us, renew our commitment to do whatever it takes to make this a better world.

I want to learn to share more. We all share, I know, and so do I…but I want to learn to share more. To share more of all the bounty with which I have been blessed. And I do not mean merely physical abundance. I do mean that, yes, but I also mean the love that resides deep inside of me, and all the gifts of the heart and soul that are mine to give.

I promise to bring forgiveness to my world, to bring compassion and understanding and a deeper caring and a higher love, to every moment.

I am clear that this must happen in the day-to-day of my experience. It takes place with every exchange I have with any other human being. It’s about how I talk, how I act. I want to be gentle, I want to be caring, I want to be accepting and tolerant and understanding and forgiving. Most of all, I want to be connected. I want to feel that I am genuinely a part of every other person, one with every other soul, and one with God.

The opportunity, the chance, to do this is what I am most grateful for today. The chance to be Who I Really Am is what I treasure in my life. Each morning is a Starting Over. Each day is a new day. Transformation begins with Forgiveness and Unconditional Love — for the Self, and for all others.

It’s the Self part that I have the most trouble with. I have done so many hurtful things in my life. I rationalize all this most of the time, telling myself that it is all part of being human. None of us is perfect, etc. But at some point I have to begin taking responsibility for my actions, so that the past does not repeat itself in the present.

So part of self forgiveness — and what makes it possible, I think — is self discipline and self awareness; a determination to become something Other than what I have been in the past.

I am grateful for this chance. Life is so incredibly wonderful. Each day it gives me a chance to recreate myself anew.

This is Thanksgiving weekend  in my country, and at this time of year I want to express gratitude in advance for all the wonderful moments yet to come, for all the wonderful experiences yet to be created, and for all the wonderful expressions of Who I Really Am yet to be placed into the world.

Thank you, God. Thank you, Life. Thank you, every one of you, for being part of my world, and bringing me the daily opportunity to become a grander version of myself through my interaction with the wonder of you, and to work together with you to create a grander version of our world.