At my previous school, my dean of students and I would start every Thursday morning sharing one thing we were thankful for. We came to call this our “Thankful Thursday.” Even now, he and I text each other with our Thankful Thursdays every week. And here at The Atonement, if you listen closely, you might hear faculty and staff sharing theirs as you drop off your scholars on Thursday mornings.
This practice is on my mind for two reasons. First, we are at a good time of year to redouble our efforts at giving thanks. Looking behind us, at All Saints and All Souls, we are reminded that our earthly lives, whatever our age, are rapidly drawing to a close and only what is done for God will last. Looking ahead, even the secular calendar is bending our thoughts toward Thanksgiving. Secondly, at the school leadership meeting this past Tuesday, we looked at a section from
Humility Rules by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B. that dealt with how the
Rule of Saint Benedict treats the sin of grumbling. One passage read,
“Nothing will take the wind out of your sails like grumbling. This is Saint Benedict’s pet peeve, and he mentions it eight times in the
Rule. Twice he begins with the emphatic
ante omnia—‘above all else.’ The
Rule is a short document, and Benedict rarely repeats himself, so you know that stopping complaining before it has a chance to start is important to him. If you think about it, an outright fight is easier on a community than that ceaseless, cowardly, whining gossip that comes from a grumbler who ‘spreads strife’ and ‘separates close friends’ (Proverbs 16:28). Unlike direct disobedience, grumbling makes everyone restless and angry—including the grumbler himself.”
After reading this passage, we all agreed that grumbling was to be avoided at all costs. But, most helpfully, someone reminded us that giving thanks was the best antidote to grumbling, because the two cannot coexist.
No one has a perfect family or a perfect job. No one’s kids attend a perfect school. No one hits all green lights every day. But you can divide humanity pretty neatly between those people who nonetheless somehow find and give thanks for the blessings woven through their imperfect lives, and those who, on the other hand, only want to tell you about the blessings they feel they have been denied.
So let us be a people who always give thanks, and let us pray for one another.