Gratitude
Ironic, isn’t it? It’s Thanksgiving weekend – a time to stop and give thanks – and instead, we work like crazy to prepare a lovely dinner for family and friends, jump into Christmas shopping on Black Friday, tackle home projects on a “free workday,” collapse in exhaustion on Sunday, and dive back into the regular grind on Monday morning.
In all this hustle, did we pause long enough to give thanks for our spouse? Not just a Hallmark-card “thanks for all you do,” but a deep, heart-wrenching moment of reflection on the kind of gaping, monstrous hole their absence would leave in our lives.
Here’s a challenge: think of everything they do – everything they are – that makes your life better, whether they realize it or not, and express your gratitude with specificity.
Begin Again
The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton is an epic poem recounting the Catholic King Alfred the Great’s heroic fight to rally his people and defend England against Heathen Danish invaders. It masterfully intertwines historical events with mythic elements, delving deep into themes of faith, resilience, and the unyielding spirit of a Christian civilization standing firm in the face of chaos and despair.
Near the end of the poem, when Alfred is on the brink of total defeat, Chesterton beautifully weaves an image into the story:
Never Enough
My wife saw the Greatest showman, and of course, I got to listen to the soundtrack (a lot), and when I first heard the song ‘Never Enough’, not being a real good listener, I heard this song of a lady for whom nothing was enough – not the stars, the fame, nothing. She wanted more and more.
Then for some reason I really listened. You know, like when you’ve tried it your way four times and can’t get it to work, and your wife’s voice, who has been quietly suggesting a different way for fifteen minutes, gets through, and you pause to listen, and it works?
it’s the four words she says right before all of the ‘never enough’ over and over again…