Reflections by Maxie Dunnam

Simone Weil is one of my favorite and challenging “spiritual” writers.. She diagnosed the human predicament in this way: “The danger is not that there is no bread, but that we have convinced ourselves that we are not hungry.”

Read that again, slowly and then sit quietly and reflect.

Is Weil right? How many people do you know who are operating out of a conviction that if they have an abundance of things, take good care of their bodies and satisfy their physical drives, then life is OK. That sort of mind-set easily adopts the motto: “He who dies with the most toys wins.”

But then you come across a person who has a peace and joy that you don’t understand. There is nothing frantic about her, and as you know her, you realize she believes that life is not a matter of quantity, but quality. It’s not a matter of getting, it’s a matter of giving. It’s not a matter of the material, it’s a matter of the spiritual.

Then we realize Simone Weil was right: Are you hungry? 

“The danger is not that there is no bread, but that we have convinced ourselves that we are not hungry.” 

A Thanksgiving

~John Kendrick Bangs

For summer rains, and winter’s sun,
For autumn breezes crisp and sweet;
For labors doing, to be done,
And labors all complete;
or April, May, and lovely June,
For bud, and bird, and berried vine;
For joys of morning, night, and noon,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

For loving friends on every side;
For children full of joyous glee;
For all the blessed Heavens wide,
And for the sounding sea;
For mountains, valleys, forests deep;
For maple, oak, and lofty pine;
For rivers on their seaward sweep,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

For light and air, for sun and shade,
For merry laughter and for cheer;
For music and the glad parade
Of blessings through the year;
For all the fruitful earth’s increase,
For home and life, and love divine,
For hope, and faith, and perfect peace,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING