Mormon Parenting: Thanks for the season

Thanksgiving is over, but as we gear up for Christmas, we all hope that thanks-giving continues to be our paradigm. For 40 years, we have sent out our greeting cards to friends and family at Thanksgiving rather than at Christmas to try to open the season on a note of gratitude.

As we continue in our third year of this column, we feel more and more that those who read it regularly are our friends and that we want to share the same greeting with you.

So here is a little holiday poem as a token of our thanks-giving to you for being a part of these articles by reading them each week.

A Poem of Thanksgiving Greeting to Friends and Family

This Thanksgiving, we divide our thanks-giving twice into three parts,

first by place and then by time …

Giving thanks for three places:

The Outer of opportunity and contribution,

The Inner of family and relationships,

The Inner-inner of testimony and peace,

And finding that these three gratitudes help balance priorities and perspectives.

Then, seeking yet another way to feel, giving thanks for three times:

The mellow stewardship of past memories,

The moving serendipity of present moments,

The marvelous synergicity of future milestones,

And discovering that each of these three thanks equates to joy.

Both threes, in place and in time, funnel down to you, family and friends —

Center of our heart, heart of our thanksgiving.

With love, from Eyrealm

(an Eye-er sees, and a realm is a tiny envelope within his vast one)

Within which we humbly evolve from gratitude to generosity*

And pass torches like batons, knowing that it is family

That will lead us back to him.

*see EyresFreeBooks.com

Richard and Linda Eyre are the founders of Joyschools.com and New York Times No. 1 best-selling authors who lecture throughout the world on family-related topics. Visit the Eyres anytime at www.TheEyres.com or at www.valuesparenting.com.