Thanksgiving

Dawn arrived this morning and brought with it a new month. November: I'll admit, it is my favorite month. It isn't just because fall is in full swing in most of the country, or because there is a holiday with turkey, pie, and a pretty cool parade. It isn't even because my birthday falls in November.  The reason I love November so much is that it is designed to be a season of thankfulness.

Sandwiched snugly between two months where people are focused intently on what they will be getting, November has the potential to be a haven of rest from the wild lunacy of commercialism.  It falls after the mad scramble for costumes and candy, and before the mad-dash for the best deals on gifts for Christmas. Like footsteps on a carpet of fallen leaves: soft, quiet, beautiful. It is a perfect time for reflection and thought.

We often rush in life: we run from place to place, trying to get everything done. We are so busy looking ahead, at we need to do, or want to do  that we can easily overlook where we are right now.  We neglect to  slow down and reflect on the blessings in our life. The most common thing we neglect is the wonderful people in our lives. We assume they know we care about them, and we assume that there will be time to show them tomorrow.  But what happens when those tomorrows are ripped away?

I lost a loved one this summer.  My cousin was exactly one month older than me, and she was my very first friend, but we allowed time and distance to grow us apart.  It is never easy to lose a family member, and it is an especially awful pain to lose one so young, but there is an extra sting in it when you know you could have loved them better.  Grief is a great magnifier of regret. It shows you so clearly what you could have and should have done better. It is too late for me to tell her that I loved her. I can't go back and take those missed chances. 

What I can do, though, is take the time now to love and appreciate those around me; to be thankful for these great blessings.  I can be thankful, even in my grief, that I knew my cousin and that she was so very loved by others. I can be thankful for her daughter, who is her exact miniature . I can be thankful for the lesson learned in her passing, though I wish it had not come.  I can slow down and look at my sweet children, growing bigger every day, and my husband and family and friends, and appreciate who they are and the richness they have brought to my life.  I can view my life through a lens of thankfulness and thanksgiving, thanking God for all He has done and all He has provided.

So, for the month of November, I won't just be celebrating the holiday of Thanksgiving, I will be living a life of thanksgiving. I would like to challenge you, too.  Take the opportunity to put aside the rush and fuss of life, and the temptation to barrel into the holiday season, and just love where you are and those around you. Try to close out the distractions of life, and really focus on being thankful for what you already have and those you share it with. At the end of the month, I predict we won't want to stop. Oh, how different the holidays would look then.

Love to you all.