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Bare Trees in Fog

Let's Talk Turkey

Writer's picture: Marie LaureMarie Laure

Let's face it: Thanksgiving is not going to be the way you remember it used to be, nor will it be the way you imagine it. Thanksgiving will be whatever the day brings: maybe horrendous traffic on the way to somewhere else; maybe a meal at home; maybe hyped up kids; maybe a morning in church; maybe a walk on the beach; maybe peeling pounds of potatoes at the shelter; maybe an afternoon watching movies or football; maybe side-stepping difficult conversations; maybe a quiet walk in the green woods to avoid black Friday; maybe none of the above, or all of the above!!


In my French Canadian heritage, the day is called: L'Action de grace.*The simple translation points us to the reason, the main reason, that many countries including the U.S. observe one day of Thanksgiving out of 365. Simply put, the holiday is meant to be an expression of gratitude. What exactly does this mean? The word gratitude means a feeling of appreciation. A feeling, not an idea or mythology of what the day ought to be. Feeling appreciation while a nice idea, might not be as simple as apple pie.


A feeling of appreciation might require digging deep considering all the world's woes. A feeling of appreciation might require pausing in the middle of the chaos of life. A feeling of appreciation might not rise up given the givens of 2023. A feeling of appreciation might not be the same for you and me, for your mother or father, sister or brother, spouse or friend. Feelings are like that, different everytime for everyone.



That's why Thanksgiving will never be the same, no matter what you think.


We can never step into the same river twice because it is not the same river and we are not the same person. But, feeling appreciation this year, this day, this time, one more time, can be what we need to make Thanksgiving all that it is meant to be.


*The expression “thanksgiving” comes from the Hebrew word “shelem” which means: peace offering, reward, sacrifice for alliance or friendship, voluntary sacrifice of thanks.



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Marie Laure
Marie Laure
21 nov 2023

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© 2023 by Marie Laure

​Six Stages of Pilgrimage:

  • The Call:

  • The opening clarion of any spiritual journey. Often in the form of a feeling or some vague yearning, a fundamental human desire: finding meaning in an overscheduled world somehow requires leaving behind our daily obligations. Sameness is the enemy of spirituality.

  • The Separation:

  • Pilgrimage, by its very nature, undoes certainty. It rejects the safe and familiar. It asserts that one is freer when one frees oneself from daily obligations of family, work, and community, but also the obligations of science, reason, and technology.

  • The Journey:

  • The backbone of a sacred journey is the pain and sacrifice of the journey itself.  This personal sacrifice enhances the experience; it also elevates the sense of community one develops along the way.

  • The Contemplation:

  • Some pilgrimages go the direct route, right to the center of the holy of holies, directly to the heart of the matter. Others take a more indirect route, circling around the outside of the sacred place, transforming the physical journey into a spiritual path of contemplation like walking a labyrinth.

  • The Encounter:

  • After all the toil and trouble, after all the sunburn and swelling and blisters, after all the anticipation and expectation comes the approach, the sighting. The encounter is the climax of the journey, the moment when the traveler attempts to slide through a thin veil where humans live in concert with the Creator.

  • The Completion and Return:

  • At the culmination of the journey, the pilgrim returns home only to discover that meaning they sought lies in the familiar of one's own world. "Seeing the place for the first time . . ."

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