It's that time again. Time to think and to thank
Time to count up all the reasons we have to be thankful.
Even now. Even though. Even if our personal story is full of pain.
Like one young man I read about. I only have a few sentences of fact about his brief encounter with a friend, but here's how I imagine it have gone.
"Joel" suffered a freak accident that shattered his life in an instant. This once-strapping young man became a paraplegic for life.
When his best friend since childhood, "Kev," saw him for the first time he tried not to stare as he took in the finality of his buddy's situation. Joel would never walk again.
Then Kev heard himself blurt, "Isn't it strange how one day can color a whole life?"
"Yeah," Joel said and nodded. A moment later he flashed his old smile and said, "But I thank God that I still get to choose the colors."
So do you and I. Thanks-living is a matter of the mind and heart. Our every-day attitude.
Once we plug in that perspective it changes our view of life. And us. We stop bemoaning what's missing and start being glad for what is.
It helps to think about that original Thanksgiving
Start with The Mayflower. Forget modern ocean liners. This merchant ship measured only 64 feet long, about the distance from a baseball pitcher's mound to home plate. It traversed the Atlantic at a sizzling two miles an hour.
Those 102 Pilgrims were packed into the cargo hold, an area about half the size of a basketball court. Ceilings measured less than five feet high. Their group included 18 married couples and their children. Two wives were pregnant and one delivered her baby during the voyage.
For 66 days and nights they endured limited space, little privacy, poor ventilation and scanty meals because they feared running out of food..
At last, on November 11, 1620, the captain spotted Cape Cod and dropped anchor offshore in the New World.
No inns with warm rooms and cushy beds awaited them
They had only The Mayflower to provide shelter from the endless unknown that stretched before them when they looked toward land. Fear stalked them but they dare not give in.
Because The Mayflower would sail back to England in spring, the men had no choice but to row to shore every day, whatever the weather. There they worked together to build basic shelter for their group, as well as for the chickens and pigs they brought with them.
They dug graves, too. Lots of them. By that first Thanksgiving only 50 of the 102 Pilgrims who left England remained alive. Only three of the 18 married couples still had both spouses.
Let that sink in. Imagine their heavy hearts as the survivors gathered to celebrated their first harvest. They resolved to set aside their grief and together, thank God, the Giver.
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, He increases power. Isaiah 40:29
Do we have what it takes to do the same?
Not one of us has or will have a perfect life. You and I, too, survive because God enables us to keep breathing and gives strength for each day.
Let's be on the alert for the good in life and be ready to acknowledge it. In people. In family members. It's always there, even in hard times.
In every situation we still get to choose our outlook and to speak the good word. No eloquence required, just the doing.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Let's share our lessons learned
Some of us never speak of our mistakes, as if we've skated along through life with never a rough spot. This may protect our egos, but it cheats our children and grandchildren.
We can bless them by gently telling stories about our ups and downs and lessons learned–and how God brought us through. Were there times we "feasted" on Spam because we couldn't afford turkey? Pass on such tales, if only to show it's possible to rejoice and to laugh, even when life's not perfect.
Most importantly, as we share our stories, let's point to the Giver.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1
When we thank God it reminds us we're not alone–and we never were
Neither were the Pilgrims. Like us, they anguished over their pain and their losses, but they didn't camp there. They chose instead to focus on God's faithfulness through it all.
Can't we do the same?
Start with "ordinary" things like the myriad colors in trees and plants and flowers. We take all that for granted, but what if our Creator had colored all of Nature in shades of grey?
For each of us, if we truly take in what we see around us we'll understand why we can be thankful and can praise God.
Even when life disappoints us and sadness won't lift. Even when time drags on and we can't see an end to the waiting. Even then.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
Every day, let's hone in on the joy of what is, rather than to waste time yearning for "perfect."
And let's remember that you and I "choose the colors" of our lives, too, every single day.
Thanking God for you, dear unseen friend!
Lenore
