Thanksgiving Eve 2020 - Episode 11
Happy Thanksgiving Eve…
I really hope that a good portion of those who are listening to this on the actual evening it is released have finished all they need to do in preparation for what ever plans you might have tomorrow. If you follow me on Instagram you saw my post yesterday about the Rocket Scientist and I having to make a very hard decision. It left me in a heap of tears – of the angry and the heartbroken variety. Life in the time of a pandemic really…well…(plug your ears mom, I’m going to use language) it really sucks farts! In following how God was leading us to care for our family, friends, my parents and my groom we made the very hard call to not gather with a larger than usual family grouping. What that means for my man and me is that, for the first time since our son died, we will spend a holiday by ourselves. He died 3 and a half years ago today and this is the first holiday we spend alone. Ugh.
I fully recognize that so many are facing the same scenario tomorrow and in the upcoming holidays. Many have it worse. Many will be spending their first holiday without a spouse, a child, a parent because this virus has literally robbed them of their last breath. Some will spend it without a family member who is deployed, who is a first responder or who is so sacrificially battling this as a healthcare worker in a hospital.
Every year people have to walk through hard and sharp edges at the holidays – but this year seems particularly brutal. I think so often we try to run from pain. We try to bury it in forced smiles, in silly, surface conversations. We blink back tears and swallow the lump in our throats for fear that if someone knew we were struggling they might think less of us. Here’s the deal though, we are going to be surprised by grief and pain and heartache. Sometimes we will see it coming from miles off, and other times it will smack us right upside the head. Here is something that I pray each one of us can remember…even though we will be surprised by grief, maybe, like air, we need it too. We need it to remind us of the deep love we have for those not here. We need it to remind us the empathy is not simply a pretty word, but it is a strength forged through experience and shared pain.
There is so much in this world that we want to run from. And of course that is a natural human response. But maybe, when we really lean into gratitude, speaking it out loud often, maybe we then can begin to see that there is room at the table for grief to sit next to joy. For pain to sit next to laughter. For hope to sit next to anger.
Gratitude – it is the fuel for our joy.
William Arthur Ward said, "God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say, 'thank you?'"
November is the month our culture deems the month of "thankful". Social media has been filled with daily posts of gratitude and pretty staged pictures, and in a few days December will hit and it will be nothing but wish lists and keeping up with the latest in farmhouse Christmas decor….and peppermint mochas!
But what if we used every day to practice the discipline of gratitude? What if we became people who started and ended the day thankful for what we have, instead of longing for what we don't? I mean, if we aren't grateful for our blessings today, what makes us think we will be joyful with more tomorrow? What if we cultivated a life of living generous and filled with gratitude?
What if....
God turns our gratitude into goodness, adds peace to our pain, and provides strength in our struggles. We don’t need to see things differently to be grateful; rather, we must be grateful to see things differently. And when we do, when we see it all and give thanks for it all at all times, “Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down” (Philippians 4:7 MSG).
What if we treated practicing gratitude in the same way we train for a marathon—in daily steps toward a greater goal? What if we stopped waiting to feel grateful and were grateful anyway, believing God is good? Gratitude is nothing more than the act of giving thanks before we might feel like it.
When our pain screams, our gratitude must shout louder—not to deny it but to drown it out with praise. When we’re fighting addiction, experiencing chronic pain, enduring chemo, or overwhelmed with caring for an aging parent, or finding ourselves away from family and friends for their best interest thanks to COVID - gratitude is hard, but it is possible. Practicing gratitude is an intentional act of faith, saying yes to God’s command and will for our lives. Like so many steps of faith, it brings blessing as we plant our feet in front of us, however tentatively, remembering two steps forward and one step back is still progress.
My prayer for myself is to nurture a heart of thankfulness, so that I’m able to quickly grab the gratefulness even when the pain is dripping from my eyes and threatening to water down whatever is in my cup. So that I long to be grateful like I thirst for water. May we be constantly looking to the One who gives us everything we could ever want or need, the One who filters every single step of our journey through His fingers. My hope is we all become a little more filled with attitudes of gratitude and a little less filled with attitudes of platitudes!
Of course, all of these are words that are easier spoken or written than they are acted upon. And so…we must allow the Creative God to show us all of the sweet, creative blessings we have so that we can, as the old hymn says, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Before I close out this episode, I would be blessed to read from my favorite book of liturgies, Every Moment Holy. Whatever your meal looks like tomorrow – be it a giant feast with many people, or a small plate with just you, I pray that you will prepare that meal with a grateful heart that can grab ahold of the ache in one hand and the joy in the other and look to God to say ‘thank you for all I have and all I am.’
Liturgy for the Preparation of a Meal - Every Moment Holy
As we perform the various tasks of washing, chopping, sifting, mixing, simmering, baking, and boiling, let those little acts coalesce into an embodied liturgy of service— an outworking of love offered for your purposes, that through us, your tender care might be translated into the comforting and cheery language of nurturing food and drink offered for the benefit of others. Let us invest in this preparation a lovingkindness toward those who will partake. Let us craft this meal with a care as would befit any endeavor touching eternity. Meet us in the making of this meal, O Lord, and make of it something more than a mere nourishment for the body. Make it the center of a sheltered space where grace freely flows. Let the slow savoring of these foods give pause to those who will soon partake, prompting them to linger long at table, taking rest from the labors of the day, engaging in good conversation. Let the comforting qualities of the dishes we prepare, become catalysts for a rich fellowship, a warm consolation, and a fruitful increase of holy affections. May this meal serve to remind those who share its pleasures of the goodness and the hope that infuses all creation. Unto that end, let us labor creatively, with imaginations engaged, knowing that we are cooks in the kitchen—yes— but we are also agents of a deep eternity, whose prepared meals might feed more than the body, nourishing also the hearts and hopes of those sometimes-weary souls who are well-served by our labors. Amen.
Photo by bhuvanesh gupta on Unsplash
