November 28th

Thanksgiving

                Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come before him. Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.  Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord is king!” Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it.  Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:28-34

             I was born on Thanksgiving.  I like to tell people that the doctor wrapped me up, gave me to my mom and called me a turkey…and I have never recovered.  I love Thanksgiving.  I love the meal. I love the pies.  I love the family being together and working together to put on an incredible feast.  I love the leftovers.  I’m not a big fan of the dishes or Black Friday, but as far as the day itself, I love it.

            The author writes about how all of creation sings praise to the Lord.  The seas, the fields, the forests…all of them roar, exult and sing for joy to their creator.  Today we get to join with creation in celebrating the Creator and all the good things that He has done for us.  The meal…our homes…our family and friends…our jobs and hobbies and football and parades…everything that we enjoy on this day is provided to us by God and it is easy to be thank-filled when we are faced with such abundance and celebration.

            The challenge for us is to be thankful for the other 364 days of the year.  There is no glory in gratitude.  Gratitude holds no praise from your friends or members of your community holding you up as a model of incredible parenting.  Those accolades are only granted to us if we complain and talk about how tired we are and lament all of the heath issues that our children face.  When we talk about the hardness of our lives, our friends and family come alongside to encourage and sympathize and offer encouragement at how well we are carrying our families on our backs.

            When we live in gratitude, our hearts are full, but it can feel fake. 

            I am not grateful for everything in my life.  I am not grateful for autism.  I am not grateful for sleep issues and food issues and anxiety issues and overstimulation.  Am I supposed to be?  I don’t think that I need to convince myself that the hard things are good and pretend that I am content with it all.  Instead, I choose to hope that the hard things will change or God will develop me to deal with them better or that good will come out of trials.

            I am grateful, however, for my son and my family and all the ways that God has taken care of us.  I am grateful for his growth and development.  I am grateful for a job that has incredible flexibility.  I am grateful for a community of people who pray for us.  I am grateful for a chance to write and share my story and to hear feedback from others who resonate with these words.

            Can I be grateful and still want our life to change and improved?  Definitely.  Those are the two realities that try to I hold together as I navigate my way through these waters.  It is gratitude and hope together and both point towards our Creator who has made and loves all things.

            Let us be thankful today.

A moment to reflect:

What are you thankful for today?