The Art of Thanksgiving
by Wilferd A. Peterson
The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving. It is gratitude in action. It is applying Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy: ‘In gratitude for your own good fortune you must render in return some sacrifice of your life for other life.’
It is thanking God for the gift of life
by living it triumphantly.
It is thanking God for your talents and abilities
by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good.
It is thanking God for all that men and women have done for you
by doing things for others.
It is thanking God for opportunities
by accepting them as a challenge to achievement.
It is thanking God for happiness
by striving to make others happy.
It is thanking God for beauty
by helping to make the world more beautiful.
It is thanking God for inspiration
by trying to be an inspiration to others.
It is thanking God for health and strength
by the care and reverence you show your body.
It is thanking God for the creative ideas that enrich life
by adding your own creative contributions to human progress.
It is thanking God for each new day
by living it to the fullest.
It is thanking God
by giving hands, arms, legs, and voice to your thankful spirit.
It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving, acts of thanksliving.