Season of Gratitude and Generosity

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is within you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.

Jesus, the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas

 The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. We are entering the inward time of winter- pulling the blankets out of storage, bundling up in sweaters and eating warm, comforting food and drink. As the days grow colder, we are also entering the holiday season. Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are just around the corner. Looming over us is the pandemic and the elections-four more years of horror or the beginning of the rebuilding. Either way, we have our work cut out for us.

 This is a pivotal time of the year, and of the world. It’s a good time to set intentions for the year to come. What sort of world do we want to live in? and how, as citizens, can we help shape this new world? It takes effort to maintain a positive flow. It’s much easier to be dragged downstream by outer circumstances. But I think we can approach this new world with imagination and renewed vigor regardless of the outcome of the election. What are our options anyway?

 As we approach Thanksgiving we are forced to connect with one another in a new way. Although the American Thanksgiving includes a dark history of Europeans stealing the land from its indigenous population, it is also a harvest festival. This is a time to reap and feel gratitude for the fruits of the land. All over the world harvest festivals are celebrated in the fall. We are encouraged to feel gratitude for the Earth that sustains us and for the many and varied forms of life that bring joy and wonder. We need to remember the sensations of joy and wonder during this challenging time. It is life affirming to express gratitude to our loved ones, gratitude to those who protect our freedoms, our farmers and doctors and nurses and teachers. Regardless of the state of the world, we must remember to appreciate one another.

 Fall also brings the melancholy winds of impending winter. In the northern winter, as it gets dark and cold, we need to bring more light into our world and into our homes. The winter holidays each have their religious factors, but the religious aspects were tacked on to the pagan rites of bringing light into the dark nights of winter. It is a time of gift giving, which can either be an exercise in mindless consumption or an experience of expressing love and generosity to our friends, families and communities. Regardless of who is the president or the state of our nation’s health, our families and our communities need our support and generosity now more than ever.

 Gratitude and generosity. We celebrate the generosity of the land that feeds us and gives us shelter by expressing our own generosity. And at a time when the Earth is dark we remember the light and, rather than contracting, we can open up even wider and give even more generously. We can passively accept a cliché set forth by the dominant culture or we can move in a more joyful direction. If we don’t frame the holidays for ourselves someone else will frame them for us. And we may not like what we see.

 The darkness of impending winter can be beautiful and comforting. It is a time of pregnant hibernation and creative ferment. The slow, warm days of summer don’t ask much of us-the cold requires our attention. This, in the midst of so many stressors, can either be terrible or magical. We need change, and change comes out of the dark womb.