Thank you, Mr. Mountain, for allowing me a photo shoot with your gorgeous tree.
Do your prayers leave room for THANKSGIVING? Are your prayers petitions without praise? Requests without reflection?
It was November of 2006. My friend Kathy visited me at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Again. I was there for a full week. Again. I was sinking into total frustration and fighting depression. At the end of our visit, Kathy gave me the devotional Experiencing God Day-By-Day by Henry Blackaby. Later I read the entry for November 19 and it forever changed me.
Highlighted was the story from Luke 17 of Jesus healing the ten lepers “…and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down at His feet, giving Him thanks.” Nine men ran off reveling in their newfound health. “But only one considered THE SOURCE OF THAT BLESSING AND STOPPED TO THANK AND WORSHIP THE ONE WHO HAD GIVEN HIM BACK HIS LIFE. ONLY ONE LOOKED BEYOND THE BLESSING TO THE SOURCE.”
At the end of the week I was healthy enough to go home. My family packed up my room then we all headed down the hallway to the elevators. I remembered “the one” and quietly told my family I’d forgotten something in the room. In my heart I knew I’d forgotten to say THANK YOU TO THE SOURCE.
In the stillness of the empty room, I knelt at the side of the hospital bed right next to the gears the kids loved to operate to “fold up into a bed sandwich.” I thanked God for answering so many prayers. Restored health. Discharge papers. A new start. But I also smiled and thanked God for my two beautiful kids who brought luminous joy during a dark week. Not only did Sean and Lauren like to make bed sandwiches but they had a blast making blow-up roosters out of medical gloves. On my knees, I also lifted up thanksgiving for my loving family and friends who had made an invisible God visible to me through their countless acts of love and service.
That was the November I learned to be like the one leper. I returned to the Source to say “THANK YOU.” That was the year I learned to BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT LOOKING PAST ALL THE BLESSINGS OF LIFE TO THE SOURCE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD.
Thanksgiving puts us in the present and makes us acutely aware of the NOW. It creates a sanctuary of gratitude and seems to freeze time if only for a moment. No matter how dark life gets there is always something to be thankful for if we pay attention and refuse to let the darkness eclipse the good in life.
Perhaps this Thanksgiving season we can silence the requesting, questioning and crying out to God. The void created can be abundantly filled to overflowing with gratitude. Let’s find the focus to appreciate the beautiful blessings, precious people, holy happenings and tiny treasures we encounter every single day. It takes being aware. It takes being fully present in the moment.
May you be fully aware this Thanksgiving season and return to the Source of all that is good. I’ll close by sharing “All Good Gifts” – it’s been a Thanksgiving favorite of mine since I first saw GODSPELL in my church basement when in elementary school.
Make Every Day Thanksgiving Day!
