Flow of Thanksgiving

I tend to think in images and get a focus on certain thoughts or ideas in a day and week. I'm not a poet or writer yet, and often get drawn to a concept that I then enjoying playing with for days. Here's a rough draft as I'm trying to get myself ready for Thanksgiving. I'm still fussing with the grammar, wording, and punctuation, but want to share it with you to say THANKS. Maybe it will help you tap into your soul as you prepare for Thanksgiving.

This year I'm thinking a lot about all the sinners and saints who've framed my life, added to who I am, and made a huge difference to what I've become and what I'm becoming. I hope as you get caught in the busyness of Thanksgiving that you'll also get caught up in recognition of everyone that your life is built upon and the power of gratitude. Do something -traditional or creative- that helps raise your awareness of thanks giving/living.

Oh, the first photo is of a dry well in a west African village where we work, and the second of the pump is from the deep well we put in at the Kipuke Ministries Trinity Center outside of Kara, Togo. I was thinking of the old pitcher pump or shallow well as I started writing and was reminded of my rather shallow daily approach of thanks giving.



Flow of Thanksgiving
by Scott Parrish
Thanksgiving 2011

The pump needs to be primed.
The flow is hesitant from a
rusty, forgotten, untended supply-
a spring not drawn up.

Memory...
slowly welling in mind and heart-
of the people who have changed my life,
of the spices added to the dull recipe.

Keepsakes...
stirring in my thoughts-
family, friends, folk who sharpen iron,
those who create my life of experience.

Memorabilia...
flowing in life and story-
to be displayed and recounted,
stream that keeps me alive.

Recognition...
gushing spring of thanks knowing-
deep, deep gratitude from the core,
holy awareness, an offering, a prayer.

Spring of true thanks giving,
meant to flow pure in me.
Stories recalled, retold
as I drink deep of the pure water.

Thanksgiving Music

Ah, the food, the family, the traditions, the fun that ties together the days and years of our lives.

I'm curious about your celebration of the day. Have you got a favorite Thanksgiving song? It could be sacred or secular, could be old or new. Help me create a Top 10 List of the BEST Thanksgiving songs. These would be songs that really express what it means to be thankful, or that might move us into that spirit.

Here's the beginnings of a list some of my Facebook friends helped generate. This is a mix of songs from a collective response of friends sharing the music that helps their experience of preparation for and expression of Thanksgiving. Maybe one of these songs will help you tap into some of the reflection, knowledge, and emotion which leads to thanks giving:

Blessed, Brett Dennen, Jazzy Folk style
Mystery, Bruce Cockburn, Rock
“Thankful,” Josh Groban
Let All Things Now Living
Count Your Many Blessings
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
We Gather Together
For The Beauty of the Earth
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Thankful, Caedmon's Call
Thank You, 33Miles
Thank You, Sanctus Real
How Could I Ask for More, Cindy Morgan
Give Thanks Forever, Chris Tomlin
Indescribable
How Great is Our God
Now Thank We All Our God
The Thankfulness Song, Veggie Tales Song
Amazing from the Sex and the City Soundtrack
Do You Remember by Jack Johnson
Jessica by The Allman Brothers
"Thanksgiving" by George Winston

What do you listen to in order to get in the mood for giving thanks or as part of your Thanksgiving celebration? Send a comment and add to the list.

In the meanwhile, enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Preparations Still Continued

Make Me a Captive Lord
George Matheson, 1890

Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life’s alarms when by myself I stand;
Imprison me within Thine arms, and strong shall be my hand.

My heart is weak and poor until it master find;
It has no spring of action sure, it varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move till Thou has wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love, and deathless it shall reign.

My power is faint and low till I have learned to serve;
It lacks the needed fire to glow, it lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world until itself be driven;
Its flag can only be unfurled when Thou shalt breathe from heaven.

My will is not my own till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach a monarch’s throne, it must its crown resign.
It only stands unbent amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant, and found in Thee its life.

Thanksgiving Preparations Continued

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
George Matheson, 1882

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

Learning to Be Thankful

Sunday my pastor shared a sermon trying to get me/us ready for Thanksgiving. He did a great job (at least for this typically ungrateful slob) in moving me toward a more thankful heart and life. My preacher reminded me that it's easy to be thankful for all the good stuff (as I see it and qualify life's happenings), and counter intuitive to even consider being thankful for the challenges in life. He shared a story at the end of the sermon about the blind pastor/hymn writer George Matheson (1841-1906). Matheson wrote the following prayer about his blindness: "My God, I have never thanked Thee for my 'thorn!' I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my 'thorn;' I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my 'thorn'. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow."