Morning Meditation ~ Thanksgiving Part 2

 

Did you know that on Thursday we will eat 704 million pounds of turkey?  There are 332 million people in the United States, so that means you need to eat 2.12 pounds of turkey this week to do YOUR part.

 

Did you know that Friday this week is usually one of the busiest days for plumbers?  That is according to Roto-Rooter as they are called upon to unclog our drains.

 

Sarah Hale is known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving,” because she spent four decades campaigning to make Thursday a national holiday and in 1863, she persuaded President Lincoln to make it so – talk about an abundance of attempts.  She also wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” in her free time. 

 

Who thought the morning mediation was going to be this educational today?

 

Finally, according to AAA, Orlando, Florida is near the top destinations for travel this week.  Just a public service announcement for anyone thinking about traveling I4 on Thursday.  You are welcome.

 

While these tidbits of trivia might be fun to share at your Thanksgiving table, the reality is that we know gratitude is about more than this one week.  We practice the prayer posture of praise every single week in worship.  Last Sunday in worship we heard another account of the people of God grumbling and groaning.  In Exodus, the people mutter and mumble on the banks of the Red Sea saying, “What the graves in Egypt weren’t good enough for you, Moses?”  They complain about not having enough to eat moaning, “Oh, when we were back in Egypt at least we had bread…after working our fingers to the bones making 2000 bricks a day for Pharaoh. You know, the good old days.”  And they take to Yelp to write a scatting review of Moses’ leadership saying, “The guy wouldn’t know water if he fell into a pond!  Worst road trip ever!!”

 

The more things change…the more our lives echo the history that is repeated and replayed in our words every day.  Yet, I don’t think an attitude of gratitude can ever be demanded or decreed.  It is why so many people groan silently/inwardly on Thursday when we go around the table to say one thing we are thankful for.  Forced gratitude can feel both ironic and irritating.

 

The practice of gratitude, giving thanks, living open to the goodness and God’s presence which is here hovering and hanging around you and within you, is more than one week.  I give thanks to you, dear reader, for sticking with me over the last few years.  I began these devotionals to stay connected during COVID back in 2020.  If you go back, many of my early prayers were about safety and fear and uncertainty.  I don’t know that I feel any more secure than I did back then, but I also know God has brought us this far.  Thanksgiving isn’t about saying everything is great and grand, but it is about noticing/opening to the unnamable and unmistakable presence of God.  What if we tried doing this every day in the coming month?  And what if we continued every day in the coming year?  I am not saying this would make everything magically better, but I am suggesting it would widen your perspective beyond only holding the sharp shards of brokenness that we so often capture our attention and call us to fix but are not sure how.  Thank you for continuing to be part of these meditations.  You, each of you, fill my heart with gratitude each day.  With God’s love to you.  Amen.