A Thanksgiving Meditation

Several times over the past few days, I heard Thanksgiving described as a uniquely American holiday. That is in keeping with our self-centered view of the world, but it's not very accurate. God's people have always been encouraged (and commanded) to be thankful...and it would be a shame to limit that to one day a year. Still, this has been a wonderful holiday for our family. And I am thankful.

1) I have a wife who puts up with the vagaries of a writer's schedule (and cash flow!), the demands of crazy deadlines, the days when I claim to be working while sitting and staring out the window (or reading blogs on the Internet), the rough drafts she gets stuck reading (and invariably makes better), and still loves me anyway.

2) Our daughter came home from college for the weekend and filled the house with laughter and music just like she never left. As we crammed all of our traditional activities into three days, her presence was a grace. And she has her mom's way of interacting with everyone she meets in such a way as to make them feel the world is lovely (not to mention the smile).

3) Our son has grown into a (very, very tall) fine young man. It's hard to remember the crisis of his birth and the emergency C-section without immense gratitude and a sense that God has a special plan for his life...and it's hard to believe he was ever little! From some source that I can't quite figure out, he also has a rather twisted and snarky sense of humor.

As some of you know, we are facing several major crossroads and life is more uncertain than usual right now. Yet amid all of that, the goodness of God to us is unmistakable. We have been so richly blessed, and I am thankful. And as Dickens said of Ebenezer Scrooge regarding Christmas, I hope to keep Thanksgiving all year long.