Thanksgiving, Advent, and The practice of paying attention

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This is a special time. It is Thanksgiving Day.  It is It is the beginning of Advent. I am so thankful for insight and awareness,  time to linger, and words that stir and swell my soul. I feel like those three things crack my shell of autopilot around these holiday days and fill them instead with meaning and fullness.



Advent countdown the "auto pilot" way is summed up in counting down the days until presents and family and food...counting down how many days left to buy and wrap and prepare....counting down the little chocolates you extract day by day in the advent calendar for kids.

 It has taken a massive slow-down and perspective shift to feel Advent in my bones. And it starts with Thanksgiving.

It has been part of the difference-maker for me to see Thanksgiving as the preceding  miracle to Advent.  See Thanksgiving as a gift of time to pay attention. To notice, remember, claim what is Grace all around us.  And that opens up for me the passage into Advent.

Ruth Haley Barton writes in her blog,

"It was almost like God had been waiting for this moment—waiting for Moses to settle down and become quiet enough so that he could address Moses directly... It was an angel of the Lord that caused the initial commotion of the burning bush and when the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush. It seems that there was a cause and effect relationship between Moses’ willingness to pay attention and God’s willingness to speak. At last, all other voices had quieted down enough so that Moses could recognize a new Voice calling to him from the burning bush in the middle of his own life. Finally, he was ready to receive a word from the Lord. (Exodus 3)

I am praying that you feel the invitation, the pull, and honor that inward experience on the outside with behaviors and postures that bring you to the place where you can "Turn aside to see".

Carve out some minutes, sit still, do some reading, dwelling, praying,  breathing, writing, waiting, stilling, solituding...

May we "Practice paying attention and awaken to that which is extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary. And as we live our lives in response to the One who is calling to us out the burning bush in our own lives, we discover that we are standing on Holy Ground more often than we think!" (Barton 2007)

This is what I want to share with you this Thanksgiving morning.
A commitment to linger, notice, ease my thoughts and calm my moments.

And know surly that as I am counting my blessings, you are there in the space I am grateful for. Sharing the journey to "Turn aside and see" with like-minded souls like you is one of my highest blessings.

Be found rich in awareness, insight, time to linger, and words that stir and swell you today.
You are loved,


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