I'm Thankful for ... Expressions of Gratitude

(Nov. 24) -- For me, the most powerful aspect of the word "gratitude" is its kinship with grace. I believe that when we give thanks -- whether for the best of times or the speck of light in the distance during the worst of times -- we are inviting grace into our lives.

With Thanksgiving upon us, gratitude is something we pause to consider as we clasp hands around a table laden with turkey and all the trimmings and give thanks for the bounty before us -- especially when such a feast is unimaginable for so many millions of people around the world.

I believe that when we sit at the table and reach out to loved ones to give thanks -- for friendship, for love, good food, laughter and abundance -- we need to keep something of Thanksgiving with us, as if it were a cherished letter to unfold and reread time and again, reminding us to tender an expression of gratitude each and every day of the year -- even at those times when giving thanks is the hardest thing to do.

I was raised with a deep sense of the way in which giving thanks can also give strength, especially when courage is most needed. My parents were both raised in London and grew to adulthood in a city devastated in the Blitz of the Second World War. My mother's family had to move several times after each home was bombed, and on one occasion my mother -- then 17 -- had to be pulled from the bricks and rubble, only to open her dust-filled eyes to the horror-filled scenes around her.

Both parents knew the pangs of hunger that accompanied a food rationing that extended into the mid-1950s, when the word "austerity" had a raw meaning to it.

Thus, gratitude was a hallmark of my childhood -- gratitude for food on the table, warm beds on cold nights, a roof over our heads and a loving family to sustain us. Perhaps that's why I love Thanksgiving. As an immigrant to this country, I feel as if Thanksgiving is truly my holiday: the gathering with friends and family, the communal meal, the ritual of sharing our blessings.

From my very first Thanksgiving in America some 20 years ago, an important part of my day has been to go for a long walk in the hills near my home. There's something about being up high, at a vantage point, that broadens not only the view but the personal perspective as well.

I look across the land as if through time, an appraisal of my year since the last Thanksgiving, and my heart is always filled with gratitude -- not only for those things that have brought joy but for the challenges that have given me the gift of perseverance and taught me valuable lessons, even when those lessons were hard to take. I stay there on the hill until I can look at the tears and the laughter and appreciate both -- though I'm not saying it's always easy.

There's something very powerful in expressions of gratitude. Gratitude for the good things in life should be a given -- such fortune must never go unacknowledged. Gratitude when it's hard to give thanks is a turning of the cheek, it's laughing in the face of misfortune -- and in so doing, there is grace indeed.

Let us give thanks, not only at Thanksgiving but each day, as if life itself were food, and our daily offering of gratitude were grace before the meal.

Jacqueline Winspear is a British-born novelist residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of several best-selling novels set in the 1920s and 1930s, including "Maisie Dobbs," a New York Times Notable Book. Read her blog on Red Room.


Thanksgiving Week Special: I'm Thankful For...
We asked a successful businessman, a former soap opera star, best-selling novelists and other popular writers to share what they are thankful for this year. The articles will run throughout Thanksgiving week.

Monday: A Moment in September -- Jessica Barksdale Inclan
Monday: My Writing Life -- Meg Waite Clayton
Tuesday: Long-Distance Love -- Kathy Briccetti
Tuesday: The Cornucopia of America -- Tina Sloan
Tuesday: A Special Photograph – Tim Wise
Wednesday: Garlic – Crescent Dragonwagon
Wednesday: Expressions of Gratitude -- Jacqueline Winspear
Wednesday: All of My Feelings -- Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
Thursday: Entertaining Strangers -- Pat Montandon
Thursday: Being Home Together -- Kerry Madden
Friday: The Chance to Give Back -- Wally Amos
Friday: A'isha, the Jewel of Medina – Sherry Jones