Simple Thanks

In 1757 a curious man was admitted to a mental asylum in London with the charge, in the language of the day, that he had gone mad. He was a son of British royalty, and a poet by trade. 

During his four year stay in the asylum, Christopher Smart wrote two poems which are read and remembered to this day, including Jubilate Agno, a poem of more than 1,200 lines in which Smart gave thanks for pretty much anything he could think of, including mailmen, his cat Jeffrey, the color white, and screws, axles, wheels, and pulleys.

Perhaps Smart was indeed "mad", whatever that means, but every few years I remember him and the wild gratitude of his poetry, and find the spirit of his thankfulness to be an inspiration. Smart looked for and found the good, and the Godly, in all things; and when he saw these things, he gave thanks. Simple as that.

This week two major events happen in our family: we gather for Thanksgiving, and then a group of the brave pioneers of Christmas venture out at dark thirty the next morning to help Santa begin his work. They take with them the Christmas wish lists put together by the children of the family who are being as good as they can be for the next month in case St. Nick is watching.

I think it is right that the biggest gift shopping day of our holiday season comes after a day set aside for giving thanks, or, in other words, being grateful. On Thanksgiving we spend some time as a family reflecting on our blessings, and they are many-- easily 1,200 potential lines of poetry, per each man, woman, and child in the family. If we really started counting our blessings, in fact, we would run the risk of seeming "mad", because, as far as I can tell, those blessings have no end. It's a matter of perspective, most of all: while a Christmas list is full of wishes and wants, a grateful heart has everything it needs.

So like Christopher Smart did in 1757, this Thanksgiving I'm going to look even deeper at the things for which I'm grateful, beyond the four healthy children in our home and my beautiful wife, for whom I'm grateful, beyond the job I get to go to each day to serve children and teach and learn and provide for my family, beyond the friends and family who have been my great company all my life, beyond the bounty of those things I am used to giving thanks for, down to the breath in my body, the sun on the earth, clean water and air, the beautiful mysteries of my faith, and the sparks of thought and motion which set each day ablaze. Wow. What more could I need than this? 

Call me crazy and lock me up, but Christopher Smart was on to something. Blessings everywhere you look, if you want to see them. Happy Thanksgiving to you, down to the last screw, axle, wheel, and pulley.    


Note: This blog post is from a series originally published as personal essays written for the Van Buren County Advertiser from 2008-2014 by Corey Harbaugh under the title It's All Good. The It's All Good columns were written to feature and celebrate life in and around Gobles, Michigan.