When Grace Moves from Gratitude to Gift

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Dear readers,

     Chères lectrices et chers lecteurs,

Most mornings, a solitary heron stands quietly on the trunk of a cut tree by the lake edging my land. Still and tall, it watches the surface with a kind of quiet certainty. Sometimes it stretches its wings - slowly, deliberately - as if reminding the world that stillness is not stillness alone, but preparation. Preparation to lift. Preparation to glow - not mere brightness, but the transmission of a gift: divine grace received, quietly shared.

This issue was shaped in that spirit. Not hurried but held. As autumn deepens and the Thanksgiving season approaches, we explore the theme of gratitude not as sentiment, but as practice.

Grace in seeing. Gratitude in staying. Glow in showing.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the contributors and columnists who return issue after issue, and those joining us for the first time. Their voices shape the rhythm and radiance of this publication. In this edition, you will find an invitation from Dr. Flore Julsain, DDS, to express our gratitude through action and a simple yet profound reflection on gratitude from Dr. Haendelle Leon, MD. You’ll also be delighted by the varied nuances on the theme, shared with insight and warmth by all participants. In the same spirit of thoughtful contribution, we are grateful to Mrs. Kezia W. Saint-Louis, whose creative hand shaped this edition’s cover.

Coup d’œil, our recurring French column, continues to delight with its wit and nuance, inviting us to see language as a living thing, too. And in these final hours of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we introduce The Healthy Thread, a new column devoted to wellbeing and resilience, focusing not only on survival, but also on the daily tending of body and spirit. For me, it is also a remembrance of my mother, Rose-Brune Legrand Dubreuze, whose grace through illness left a lasting imprint on my way of being.

Let us now return to the thread that guided us: Grace received. Gratitude practiced. Glow revealed.

A glow that moves. A glow that gives. A glow that shows. Through our gestures, our presence, our care, we seek to extend that sacred something we have received. May this edition carry that brightness forward.

Grâce reçue. Gratitude vécue. Garde transmise.

Happy reading!

     Bonne lecture!