As in the
past, since it is Thanksgiving Week, this post will deviate from the
standard fare. I know that travel schedules (impeded by weather events this
year), meal planning, family time, shopping, football, parades, and if there is
any time remaining, relaxation, will dominate this week. However, it is Wednesday, so there shall be a blog! It is definitely brief.
Those among
us who have perfected humility, and ascended to a genuine Nirvana state, have
no doubt, also elevated giving thanks to an art form. The rest of us must fully
invest our appreciation in the notion, “That’s why we have Thanksgiving!”
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving
Day, which kicks off what we refer to commonly as the Holiday
Season. Almost instinctively, Thanksgiving
and Christmas
come to mind. Yet, there is so more than that to the Season.
Over the
next 54 days, many of us will
enjoy succulent feasting at Thanksgiving,
exchange gifts and contribute to the needy during Hanukkah. We will buy, give, exchange, and/or
receive gifts at Christmas,
eat, drink, and celebrate the 7
Principles of Kwanzaa,
and party and toast the dawn of 2011 (2014/2015),
on New Year’s Day. We will honor the life and works of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on MLK Day. In addition, even in these tough
economic times, this weekend, millions of Americans will pay (literally) homage to
our most celebrated of shoppers’ holiday weekends, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber
Monday, by rising early, and proceeding to scour the aisles for
those perfect gifts…and if not perfect, at least cheap, relatively speaking.
In past
years, I have recounted my reasons for being thankful. This year I find
that I have more reasons than ever to sit contemplatively in humble repose,
and affirm boldly, that I know, without caveat,
not only the goodness, no greatness of God, but also of his inestimable and inexhaustible beneficence.
I thank Him for deliverance,
and for imbuing me with the sense and sensibility to
discern the distinction between kairos and chronos, Greek concepts for God’s
time, and man’s time, respectively.
Eons ago,
when I was a college student, I joined a fraternity; the Oldest,
Boldest, and Coldest…but I digress. The point of this reference is
that during the erstwhile pledge process, as prospective initiates, we were
required to learn a series of poems. There were many, each selected to convey a
specific life lesson. Many of them have stayed with me, but none more than Invictus,
written by English poet, William Ernest
Henley (1849-1903). The Latin translation for Invictus
is Undefeated. You may recall it, but just in case, see it below:
Invictus (Latin for Undefeated) By William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
So, as you
go about your way tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that follow, recognize that Thanksgiving, at its core, is not
simply a day on the calendar. It is a spirit that dwells within us, an
impulse that prompts us to thank God
(for our being undefeated), and the graciousness to share His blessings with our fellow men and
women. Indeed, everyday is “A Time for Giving Thanks!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/. Find a new post each Wednesday.
To subscribe, click on Follow
in the bottom right hand corner of my Home
Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the
designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions
of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.
Consult the links below for more detailed
information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment