“It’s not joy that makes us grateful, it’s gratitude that makes us joyful. …Joy is the happiness that does not depend on what happens. It is the grateful response to the opportunity that life offers you at this moment.” ~ David Steindl-Rast
For most Americans, Thanksgiving is a season that comes annually during November. Originating from the 1621 celebration between the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving was officially established by then-President Abraham Lincoln on November 26, 1863, as America’s annual national day of gratitude.
Born in Austria in 1926, Catholic theologian David Steindl-Rast shared the above revelation with the world in a 2014 TED Talk posted on YouTube. During his speech, Steindl-Rast said that happiness comes when we are given something we consider to be valuable and freely given — no strings attached. He noted that learning to live a grateful life can be condensed into three words: STOP. LOOK. GO.
STOP. Recognize all that should bring us gratitude in this life. By acknowledging that every breath, every moment of life, is valuable and freely given by God, gratitude becomes a natural part of who we are. Plan stop signs in every day that remind you to be grateful.
LOOK. Opportunities lie hidden within every breath we take. “Opportunity is the gift within every gift,” Steindl-Rast believes. Instead of fearing that opportunity knocks only once, we should retrain our minds to understand that opportunity is presented to us over and over every 24 hours. Should we miss one possibility to express gratitude, another moment will soon follow.
GO. As we stop to recognize the gifts God gives to us and look for opportunities to bring joy to someone else, we can change our world. Grateful people are not afraid to reach out from a sense of “enough” rather than an attitude of scarcity. Fostering gratitude results in being generous with our time, money, and love, and Who models generosity more completely than God, Himself?
May we each become intentionally grateful this Thanksgiving and express that attitude in overwhelming generosity to those around us. Stop, look, and go!
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