Season of Harvest & Gratitude

What do I have to give?

“Receive the fullness; give what’s yours to give.”

MaMuse is a musical group whose songs and lyrics feed my soul. The quote above comes from a song called, “Fire, Funk, Friction’, so timely for what I’m feeling as Thanksgiving is arriving at the doorstep.

When we consider the enormous variety of needs, desires, fears and perceptions that drive our choices, it’s like looking through a prism of multi-faceted colors. Some are bright and sparkly, and others are dim and less attractive.

What is mine to give? As happens often, I awoke earlier in the week from an endless dream where I was seeing pairs of opposites, lots of pairs. Up/down, right/left, over/under; you get the picture. Those images stuck with me through the day taunting me to sit down and consider some of the opposing views in my life and others in my life.

Nurturing            -        Draining

Receiving             -        Grasping

Tolerant               -        Prejudiced

Respectful           -        Demeaning

Unifying               -        Dividing

I began to discern my feelings on each side of seeming opposites. How do I define the continuum between the words I had written? Do I consider the act of nurturing as draining? That was a new thought! Or is nurturing fulfilling to me?

Am I capable of receiving without a need to grasp? Or do I hold on so I won’t lose

Do I truly understand tolerance without prejudice? Does my bias rule my beliefs?

Do I really respect difference by demeaning others? Can I accept the other as equal without judgment or blame?

How might I sit at the Thanksgiving table with the intent of ‘sacred listening’ for what unifies rather than divides those sitting with me?

I realized that’s what I have to give as I receive the fullness around me.