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Thanksgiving is my most favorite celebration because I believe that gratitude is a key to joyful living. I love being reminded of that by having a national holiday built around that very theme.
I also confess to an addiction to pumpkin pie and late-afternoon football, so the whole day just works well for me in general.
For most of my life, I have found it easy to be grateful. I have been very fortunate in having good health, good friends, supportive family members, a foundation of faith, a good education and for the most part, no real tragedies or sorrow.
I know how lucky I am. I've also had great jobs in places where I have been challenged and inspired and surrounded by people I respect and love. It has not been that way in the last two years as I struggled in my place of ministry. It was a period of disappointment and sadness and frustration. During those two years I found it quite difficult to be and to stay grateful.
I'm on the other side of that now.
I have a new job, live in a new place, and have a new community to serve. And for that, I am grateful. I also now reflect on the difficult times and realize I am finally able to say I am grateful for the hard times too. Through the passage of this hard time I learned powerful lessons. I learned about failure and disappointment and how to survive walking through the valley of despair.
Dostoyevsky wrote, "my hosanna has passed through great whirlwinds of doubt." That is how I feel this year.
I am glad of all I survived and learned and experienced through my difficult time. I've got new wisdom, a new compassion and true gratitude. But I know all that I learned and gained and received came through some heavy storms and that this Thanksgiving, I'm glad just for the rest. I shall sing hosanna, but I shall do so more reflectively, more meditatively because this year, I understand the depth from whence it comes.
