Thanksgiving

Next Thursday many of us will be sitting around a dining room table with family and perhaps some friends. You’ll be laughing and eating, telling stories and eating, sharing memories and eating, and eating some more. You’ll have turkey and dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, rolls, casserole dishes. And then come the desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie, ice cream, whipped cream, and even some cake. Hungry yet?

Thanksgiving dinners are some of my favorite cherished memories as a child. I remember my cousins, aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and, of course, my mom, dad and sister all sitting around a table together–or most of the time we had the “grown-up table,” and we kids sat at the “kiddie table.” (You knew you were making it in life when you got to move up to the “grown-up table.”) One thing my grandad used to do at Thanksgiving was have us go around and share something we’re thankful for, and we would each take a turn. Then we would pray. And then we would eat. After the big meal, each of us would push away from the table, sometimes help with the clean up, and go into the living room to watch football (and take a nap). I always found it odd, though, that we called Thanksgiving a day. Oh, I was very thankful for all the food and desserts while I was sitting at the table. But after I was well fed, and then some, I would push away from the table, and I would move on to the next item on the agenda. We might be so gracious as to have a Thanksgiving spirit through the weekend, but then Monday rolls around, and that Thanksgiving spirit seems to have been left back at the table.

It’s easy to be thankful when you’ve got a nice Thanksgiving dinner or when things are going well, but how long does that thankful heart last when you push back from the table, and you get back to “real life”? Are you willing to choose gratitude regardless of the circumstances of life?

One of my favorite stories is about a man who visited the only leper hospital (or hospital for Hansen’s Disease) in the US located in Baton Rouge, LA (formerly Carville, LA). The visitor met with the chaplain, and the chaplain gave him a tour of their facilities. They came to an elderly woman who had already lost one leg and whose face was terribly marred. The chaplain said, “This woman is a faithful member of our hospital choir.” And the visitor asked the woman, “If you don’t mind, would you sing for me one of your favorite songs?” Out of that disfigured faced came a song with these beautiful words, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He’s watching me.”

That’s gratitude. She chose to be thankful. I pray that when we push away from the table–with whatever else we face in life–we will choose to live a life of gratitude as well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and may it be more than just a “day.” May it be a way of life.