I wonder sometimes if this word may become worn out. Like taffy pulled too thin, or chocolate pie eaten too much, we hear this word bantered around in various ways and forms. It’s always an exhortation, an encouragement, a command to be more thankful for what we have, where we are in life, even to consider being thankful for the not-so-good parts. When we hear something so often we can become calloused to the message, the intent behind the words, and it may go in one ear and out the other.
And if we do practice a daily awareness of all that we have to be thankful for, we might be left bereft of a language to communicate when we are truly, utterly, grateful beyond words. We may feel we have to resort to saying we are uber-thankful, over-the-top grateful, filled-with-excessive-thanks. A simple thank you ceases to carry the full impact we wish to communicate.
I find myself in this position after the Art Show that took place here in my little town on Saturday, November 22nd. I’m never prepared for the 3 hour revolving door of friends, family and new supporters. I can’t quite take in that others would want to travel distances to attend the show much less to own a painting or some cards of mine, one of my books, a knitted shawl or cowl. I’m left without words to adequately describe how I feel and thus resort to paint to somehow communicate the bubbling over gratitude that wells up after a show. I am simply…thankful…in all its grand and humbling feelings.
As human beings our default setting is not thankfulness. Perhaps I generalize too much here. I should say that it is not MY default setting. My default setting tends to be grumbling, not gratitude. And for me, I have to have a daily discipline of searching for things I am thankful for in order to counter the grumbles and hopefully nullify them.
So I’ll risk overusing this word. I’ll pull it as thin as I possibly can because in doing so, perhaps I’ll see through even the difficult things to the beauty contained therein. I’ll keep eating the chocolate pie of gratitude because it is in doing so that I sense a richness to my life that isn’t there otherwise. I’ll continue painting thankfulness in my everyday life so I can knit into the fibers of my being all the colors, lines, and shapes that make a life worth living.
May I just say, Thank you? To all who came out for the show. To all who support the art that I am well aware is a gift given to me. To you, dear reader, who tirelessly reads this blog and to those who kindly take time to comment. To all of you…thank you. From the bottom of my grateful heart.
