I took off blogging last week so that I could fully live the holiday rather than trying to shove too much into my days. And Thanksgiving is nothing if not busy. There’s food preparation, food cleanup, house cleanup, family activities…and family comes first. Always. So I gave myself permission to relax.

But I don’t want anyone to think that I love Thanksgiving any less because I didn’t blog about it (I have in the past: “The Small Leap Between Gratitude and Joy“). The thing about gratitude and thanksgiving is that it’s inseparably connected to service and giving. True gratitude makes us long to help and bless others the way we have been helped and blessed.

Hence Giving Tuesday.

As we transition from a holiday of gratitude to one of giving, this day reminds us to focus on giving rather than getting. And Giving Tuesday isn’t limited to monetary goods. You can give of yourself: your time, your talents, your personal gifts. That’s the charm of giving; it includes everything and anything:

• Give a smile.
• Give a kind word.
• Give an act of service.
• Give time.
• Give love.
• Give understanding.
• Give a listening ear.
• Give a caring attitude.

Giving is important on many levels. On one level, it helps others, fulfilling needs that they might not be able to meet on their own. On another level it helps ourselves, expanding our souls. And on another level is helps all of us. It builds the bonds of society, of togetherness, of love and charity. It makes us human with that completely unique gift of humanity, of loving when it’s not easy, of giving when it’s inconvenient.

I believe we’re here to learn to love, really love, each other in a Christlike way. Without judgement, without pride, without agenda. We all need to learn this, and we all need to feel that love in turn. Love and giving, they bring happiness. They bring joy. They make us better.

Choose Joy.

—A