Thanksgiving is over now, but it still lingers in Black
Friday sales, turkey leftovers, and football games. Christmas decorations have
been up in the stores since Labor Day, so any seemingly Thanksgiving-oriented
ones disappeared by midnight on Thursday. The same will happen at Christmas.
Valentine’s Day cards, candy, and lingerie will be on store shelves before Christmas
Day ends. Fortunately, people who put up Christmas lights at least seem to wait
until New Year’s Day, if not waiting for the Christmas season to end on Epiphany,
as observed by many denominations. I’m thankful for those folks.
But back to Thanksgiving. At least on one day of the year,
it is a kind of reminder to the country that we have much to be thankful for –
besides Black Friday sales, etc., as listed above. Even if slightly cracked by
the last elections and increasing crime, violence, and political maneuvering,
we are still a nation. Opposing forces haven’t invaded us. We still have
families, friends, and our four-footed family members.
We have people who care for each other, even if the others
are perfect strangers. We have first responders and service personnel who help
us when we are in trouble or danger and do it willingly. There are medical
service workers who care for us on holidays as surely as on regular days
because they are called to be helpful. We have volunteers who run food banks
(which depend on volunteer contributions) and thrift stores. We have those who
work on Thanksgiving Day to feed those who choose to dine out on holidays. We
also have those who work in soup kitchens on Thanksgiving and other days to provide
meals for those for whom a hot, home-cooked meal is a necessity rather than a
luxury.
Many are suffering from chronic or fatal diseases, and for whom
this may be the last time to give thanks with those they love. We are thankful
for the caregivers and respite workers who care for them. We remember those who
are elderly, alone, suffering homelessness, mental illness, newly diagnosed or
newly bereaved, and those overcome by daily life and hopelessness. We pray for
them regularly, and sometimes we get involved in ministries where we can help
those for whom we pray.
Even though Thanksgiving Day is over, being thankful isn’t
something we need to relegate to one particular Thursday at the end of November.
We talk a lot about being grateful but are we using actions to prove it? My Education
for Ministry (EfM) group discussed this in our last session. One story we discussed
was the sight of someone in a grocery checkout line paying for someone else’s
basket of groceries as well as their own. We agreed that that was a wonderful
gift from one person to a stranger, but as I think about it now, it produced
two acts of thanksgiving. One was the person receiving the gift of groceries,
which probably included basic things plus perhaps things for Thanksgiving dinner.
The other was the thanksgiving of the giver whose heart was touched and who could
provide for someone else.
Thanksgiving should be more than one day of overindulgence
in turkey with all the trimmings and multiple desserts, family games and
televised football, or even driving to celebrate with family and friends once a
year. Many people have said the same essential thing many times, but maybe repeating
it won’t hurt.
This year I’m grateful for my family, my friends, both
living and deceased, my trailer home, a cabinet with food in it for me and my
two fur-kids, heat, electricity, the internet that keeps me connected with so
many, my EfM group, my faith, music, books that make me think, and the people
who read my musings. I’m also grateful for my companion cat, Gandhi, who passed
over the Rainbow Bridge this past Wednesday morning after 15+ years together
with his brother and sister-cousin.
I keep saying I will work on being thankful more than one
day a year, and for the most part, I succeed nearly every day, but nearly isn’t
quite enough. My goal is to be thankful and to remind God that I am every day,
several times a day. I can call it a New Year’s resolution since Sunday marks
the beginning of a new church year, and it seems to fit.
Thank you for being part of this journey of mine.
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