Thanksgiving in 2020

 

"What are you thankful for, Victoria?"  I asked my six year old daughter.  It seems to be the time of year for thinking about gratitude and I wondered what she would say.

"I am thankful for chickens," she told me.  "And I am thankful for the eggs that they lay."

Victoria has really enjoyed us having chickens and goes to check on them and check for eggs at least two times every day.    Who knew how much a few Rhode Island Red chickens would mean to a family?

Maybe this year doesn't seem like a good year to think too much about Thanksgiving.  We have gotten through this year, but it certainly doesn't seem like one filled with a lot fun and excitement.  I Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give thanks..." and while that may seem appropriate for pastors, maybe it feels like something that regular, every-day sort of people can't quite put into practice.

I think there is a special blessing though if we can look for reasons to be grateful.  So I decided to try to make a little list.

I am thankful for a house that doesn't stay clean.  

It means that I have five energetic children who have the desire and the ability to read books and play with all sorts of things.  It means I have a one year old who believes that her divinely appointed purpose is to empty every drawer within reach onto the floor.  The fact that my children need some encouragement to put things away after the fact says they are normal children.  For that I am grateful.

I am thankful that we continue to have church services.  

Our church has been curtailed a lot.  We are spaced out and only meeting once or twice a week.  Things are different than they were before March of this year.  But we are still meeting.  We do still fellowship.  The Spirit of God continues to move in His people.  The fact that services are not exactly like they were will only make me value it more when we do "go back to normal."

I am thankful that there are lots of opinions on Facebook.

There have been times that I thought that it would be wonderful to live in a world where everyone believed like John Waldron, but it is the differences between us that make this world an interesting place.  

I am grateful that I get hungry -- multiple times per day.  

It would be nice if I didn't feel it necessary to eat quite so often.  I have seen enough patients who have lost their appetite to know that this is a big deal.  I enjoy my meals as much as anybody and eating Thanksgiving Dinner would not be nearly as enjoyable without a little seasoning of hunger.

I am glad that I go home tired at the end of each work day.  

My weariness tells me that my patients trust me enough to come and see me.  As hard as some days are, I would rather do what I do than anything else.  It is a blessing not only to have a job, but to have one where you can make a (positive) difference in the lives of others.

I am thankful for COVID.  

This is perhaps the hardest thing of all to be thankful for.  This tiny respiratory virus has changed everything this year -- mostly for the worse.  It has let me know what and who is important in my life.  It has made me realize how important my relationship with God is.  It has led me to pray for lots of people that I don't even know.

There are lots of other things I could mention.  There have been hard events and times of blessings, but most of all, I am thankful that my Heavenly Father has held my hand through each day.  It is with the knowledge of how good God is that I can thank Him in every situation.

The difference between a thankless heart and one full of gratitude is a belief that everything that happens to me is for my good and planned by One who is only good.

I am not Pollyanna, gushing constantly about how wonderful everything is in my life.  I get discouraged, but even when I am down I know that God is the source of every good thing in my life -- especially the chickens.