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Growing-up, fall was always full of excitement as we started a new school year; my Dad was teaching and rehearsing high-school musicals, my Mom would be getting the music for Christmas at church and her piano students were prepping for the recitals and contests.
And now as an adult, those same things are often happening in our house, and this year is no different. Katie is teaching and just finished work on a virtual-musical with Moorhead High School, I am working and planning for Christmas at a church. And you add Lily’s birthday on Nov. 24 and we are right in the middle of the buzz of fall with winter right around the corner.
With all that, fall/autumn is my favorite season and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Having been involved in a church most of my life, and as much as I love Christmas and Easter and what they mean in terms of faith; Thanksgiving has always allowed my family to just ‘stop.’
To be together.
To tell stories.
To eat good food.
To watch football.
To take naps.
And to be thankful.
This year, more than ever, I feel the need to prioritize “being thankful” in the muck and mire that is ‘2020.’ With all the stress, worry, uncertainty, and fear; it is too easy to complain and just not care. However, the Bible has a simple and strong reminder for all of us in Philippians 4:6-7;
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
God, I am not sure I know how to not ‘be anxious.’ 2020 has done a number on my nerves and I have been pretty anxious ALL YEAR. I have absolutely made plenty of requests to God.
But at this moment, in this time, I will be Thankful.
I am thankful for the health of my family, for the opportunity to be a part of a great faith-community at First Lutheran, for nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, for a home that stays warm, for the leaders of our communities, for a job that challenges me and gives me a great sense of purpose, for knowing my family is safe, for vaccines that are coming, for a faith that is ever changing and a God who isn’t, for Lily’s birthday, for the breathe in my lungs, the ability to get up in the morning, the gifts and weakness I have been given, the chance to use those gifts daily, for the food we eat, those workers who won’t get days off, I am thankful that God is bigger than any four walls.
And I am thankful for a time to be still, to have a song in my heart, and to know that I am a child of God. Yes I am!
So today and during Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? What have you maybe taken for granted? Are there people in your life who you'd like to tell just how thankful you are for them?
Whatever your day holds, and whatever thanksgiving will be this year, I hope you find time to ‘stop,’ be still, and give thanks to God for all the many blessings in your life.
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