Thanksgiving
Day
Cycle A
November 27, 2014 10am
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
AAA
I am
sure that all of us have heard of Triple A.
It used
to be called the American Automobile Association. If we are not a member, we have at least seen
the Triple A decal on the bumper or rear window of a car.
This
morning, I am not trying to promote Triple A.
But, I do want to use the 3 As in their brand to help with what I am
thinking.
The
simple idea is that giving thanks and giving thanks to God is central to who we
are as persons of faith. From my own
prayer and spirituality, I see three A words as capturing what thankfulness is
all about: being 1) Aware, 2) Appreciative, and 3) Attentive.
1. Be Aware
First,
it is important for us to be aware.
Sometimes
it is easy to miss things in life. It is
like driving up Route 22 from Bel Air to Aberdeen and all of a sudden we are at
the I-95 interchange and we wonder how we got there.
Our
mind was in another place and we were not aware of the houses and businesses and
even traffic lights along the way. Well,
spiritually, it is important to be aware.
Each
day we need to be aware simply of life, of this new day of life that we
have. We need to be aware of family,
friends, faith, food, job, school, home, and on it goes.
And, by
the way, it is also important to be aware of those who have been in our lives
and have now passed on to resurrected life.
To be thankful persons, we first have to be aware of all that has been
and is in our life.
2. Be Appreciative
And then
we need to be appreciative.
Being
appreciative means that we try to look beyond the problems that we have. It means that we identify and name the good
that is or was in our lives.
We are to
savor it, to relish it, and hold it before our eyes or at least before our
mind’s eye. Being appreciative in this
way gives us positive spirit.
It
allows the positive, creative life of God to be alive and flow through us. It also makes us humble.
We see
our life itself and all that is in our life as coming from God. We know our dependence on God and our need of
God.
3. Be Attentive
And
then this humble spirit leads to the 3rd A word that makes us
thankful persons: attentive.
Being
appreciative of the good in our lives and of our need for God makes us attentive
to those who are in need. It could be
someone who needs us to listen to their upset.
It
could be someone who is searching for God and needs us to share our spiritual
journey. Today it could be persons in
some African countries who are threatened by the Ebola virus.
Being
attentive means that we respect and respond and do what we can for others who
are in need. This is the crowning and the
flowering of being a thankful person.
1)
Being aware and 2) being appreciative moves us to 3) being attentive. One flows from the other – we cannot be or do
otherwise.
