I’ve been thinking about gratitude. Now, isn’t that original? I mean, after all, it is the Thanksgiving Eve. Aren’t we supposed to be thinking of gratitude? That is the point of celebrating Thanksgiving. Right?

I have a sneaking suspicion that while almost all of us could quickly come up a list of ten things for which we are grateful with no problem at all, and while I also think that most of our lists would look very similar in that we would list husbands, wives, kids, dogs, homes, jobs, faith, etc., I seriously doubt that most of us are able to say, “I am especially grateful to be celebrating Thanksgiving under circumstances that have come into play during a pandemic.”

Let’s be honest here. Are these lists indicative of all we are feeling and experiencing right now?

If I had to make such a list, it would be authentic in that I am richly blessed, and I have much for which to be grateful, but deep down inside, I just want a break from all of this time of isolation, pandemic news, illness, and loss. I am tired. I am missing my loved ones. I want to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.

I am also convinced that a sense of deep gratitude is rarely found in identifying those things in our material world that give us a sense of appreciation or thankfulness. I believe that true gratitude is a work of the heart that has learned to rejoice and give thanks no matter what the circumstance. As I pondered this thought, I did a quick search of the word gratitude in the Bible. The source I used listed only reference to the word gratitude. It is found in Hebrews.

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

— Hebrews 12:28 ESV

During these days of a pandemic, of political and social unrest, and during a season of Thanksgiving, I found this verse to especially affirming to me personally because the Hebrew people were reminded that they were to be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. They were living as marginalized people in a group of already marginalized people. Their traditions had been turned upside down when they believed in Christ. They were reminded that only created things will be shaken, but God’s kingdom will not be shaken.

We are so caught up these days in our created world. Being grateful for something that likely seems esoteric to many during times like the ones in which we live just does not seem to be a concept which is easy to grasp. To those within the household of faith, such a statement of hope and faith as is found in the preceding quote from the Bible may not seem mystical or abstract, but during these difficult days, I sense that even true believers are feeling like the earth is truly shaking beneath their feet because of the days and months of uncertainty which we have gone through this year.

There are fractures every where we look. The brokenness of this old world is ever before us.

How do we lift our voices in praise and thanksgiving in times like these? Yes, we can look at our beautiful families, at our homes, our jobs, our health, or whatever else in this material work that we acknowledge are truly blessings, but what if one of those whom we most love was suddenly taken from us? What if all we had was destroyed? What if we lost everything? What if our health was also lost? What if our friends and loved ones turned against us? Would we still be grateful? What if we had no photos to show the world via Instagram that we are indeed blessed? Would we still be blessed? Would we still be grateful?

As I wrote those words, I thought of Job. Who wouldn’t? Job lost everything, yet, what did he say? He said,

“Though he slay me, I will hope in him...”

— Job 13:15 ESV

The past year has been so difficult for all of us. Many have lost nearly everything. Many have lost loved ones. Many wonder how they will pay the rent, or what they will do if they get sick because they don’t have health insurance. Thankfully, my husband and I are not counted among these, and I am so very grateful for that.

Others, while they are financially stable are struggling with loneliness, isolation, depression, and fear.

These are days when many are just barely surviving and feel as if they could go under in the currents swirling around them.

These are days of trying to make sense of the times in which we live.

These are days when I am again tempted to curse the brokenness I see everywhere around me.

This past year has been one of the most difficult ever for me personally, but I know that I am not alone. It has been so difficult for all of us. A year ago today, I had just recently returned home from a memorial service for my dear youngest sister. Her death shattered me in so many ways. My mother was dying. My family of origin was fractured and hostile. A granddaughter was hospitalized with a very serious mental illness. I sat down a year ago today and poured everything out onto the pages of my journal. I wrote:

“-This is the day I curse brokenness in this world and wonder just how much more heartbreak I can take becaue of the mental illness that seems to surround me.
-These are the days when I know prayer is the only weapon I have to fight the battle we all are facing at this time.
-These are the days where I hope for fresh faith and remember that the mercy of God is new every morning.
Now I am off to bed to rest in that great grace and mercy. The Lord will watch over it all. ”

— Personal journal - Sally Wessely November - December 2019

This year my thanksgiving gratitude list is not one that only includes material things or objects or people. Instead, my list will also be one of praise for answered prayers, fresh faith, sustaining hope, and truly mercies that have been new every morning.

This year, I again think of that verse that has proven true for me throughout my life,

“Great is you faithfulness...”

— Lamentations 3:23

For this great faithfulness I give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving. May the God of all Grace bless you all and sustain you in the days to come.

I’ve spent a lazy Saturday morning sitting around reading with my husband at my side. I observe how lazy we are being. He says, “Speak for yourself. I’m enjoying not having anything to do.”

Whispering, so the dog won’t hear, I say, “Let’s get a walk in this morning.” At 11:00, I finish a lazy woman’s breakfast of granola and yogurt, finish off my now cold coffee, think I better get going if I’m to get a walk in, glance out of the window and say, “It looks blustery out there. I don’t think I want to walk in this.” A few minutes later, I look up again from what I am reading and observe there is moisture accompanying the wind. My husband checks his weather app and says there is 20% chance of rain today. A few minutes later, I say, “That is thick rain coming down.”

Having decided we would not go for a walk, the man has gone to a part of the house where there are no windows. I called down to him that the rain was now coming in fluffy flakes. Now, just thirty minutes later, no one could characterize what is falling from the sky as rain. Thick, fluffy snowflakes are coating the ground, the rooftops, and the streets with enough snow to create the perfect kind of day for staying inside and reading all day long.

View from my window on a snowy morning: doe in the snow

This storm, (is it a storm?) was completely unexpected. We have plans. We are to travel out of town tonight to attend an alumni dinner at the school where my husband served as principal for many years. I don’t know if we will make the trip or not.

It is the third day of November. The year is coming to an end. This is the month where at the end of the month we have a day where we express our thanksgiving for those things in our lives that are blessings. November is a perfect month for reflection upon all the blessings in our lives.

The first Saturday in November of 2018, I sit down and write down about just some of the activities, observations, challenges that have filled the past week. Each gives me cause to express great gratitude.

Health concerns, sickness, and health create reasons to have gratitude for health coverage.

It has been a week that brought some sickness into my life and into Jim’s. It has been a week of challenges because we both live in aging bodies that don’t seem to function like they did in their prime. During weeks like this, I am grateful for good doctors whom care for both of us, and that we have access to such doctors. I am grateful for good health care coverage. Yes, such good coverage comes at a great price, but the price far outweighs not having it. I think of those in fear of losing coverage, or of those, like Jim and me, whom have pre-existing conditions which might not be covered if there are drastic changes made to our healthcare system. These thoughts motivate me all the more to get out and vote.

During the second week of November, during early voting, I am able to cast a vote in the mid-term elections in the United States of America.

At the beginning of the week, my husband and I took out our ballots and read through each proposition and amendment on the ballot. We discussed what we thought of each, read some of the pros and cons on each issue, and then marked our ballots. We discussed the candidates and cast our votes for the ones we wished to see in office. Voting is a sacred privilege and not one I have ever taken lightly. This year more than ever, I am grateful I can vote in a free democratic society. I am deeply concerned about the future of my country. I stay informed. I read about the issues of the day. I don’t just read news source stories on the topics of the day, I read opinion writers on both sides of the issues. I weigh the opinions of others against what I know about my own vast reading of history over the years. I synthesize what I hear from talking heads with what I’ve read from voices from the past. I analyze what I hear and read. I rarely take much of anything that I see or hear at face value. I’ve been like that my entire life. I am grateful that I was taught to be a critical thinker and that I practice critical thinking when it comes to making up my own mind about the times in which we live.

I am a member of a wonderful church and during the past week, I was able to worship freely the God I serve.

Sunday morning, chills ran through me as I sang with others in my congregation the great hymn of the Church A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Bagpipes were playing, as was a brass band, as we stood as a body sing and to remember our roots in the Reformation on Reformation Sunday. Again, I am reminded how very blessed I am to have been able to worship freely in this great land. Again, I am reminded that others have been gunned down and lost their lives in the great land while they worshiped in a sacred place. As I rejoiced in my worship, I did so with a broken heart over what had happened in Pittsburg the day before. I pray anew that I will sow seeds of peace and continue to seek reconciliation in this time of such great division in our country.

On Wednesday, I had lunch with my prayer warrior moms.

One of the greatest blessing of my life over the past four or five years has been to meet every two weeks with an amazing group of women to pray for our loved ones. My life has been changed by meeting with these women and praying with them. It has been changed in ways I could never have believed when I first came into their midst. Our prayers and our conversations are confidential. The transparency of their hearts has helped to heal my own heart as we have prayed for each other. This week at time other than the time we set aside to pray and joined each for lunch in the love home of one our fellow praying moms. We talked and shared our stories about who we were we before we were moms. We talked about our professional lives. We shared life stories. I learned new stories about these amazing women that I never knew. These women are my heroes and my dearest prayer companions.

On Thursday, I gathered with women in my Bible study to study The Letter of Paul to the Philippians.

During the study, I became ill and had to leave the study. Women gathered around me and prayed for me and ministered to me. One, a nurse, drove me home and continued to give me kindness and words of encouragement and support. I am so very grateful for the many women in my church whom have been like sisters to me and shown me so much love and support. The fellowship we share is such a special bond.

On Friday, I was able to serve at a memorial service at my church.

These past few years, I have been blessed to serve on a committee that provides a reception after every memorial service or funeral at our church. These dear women on this committee are also some of the dearest women I know. We make the coffee, arrange the cookies on platters, visit with those attending the services, and try to provide comfort for the bereaved during a time that is so difficult.

Next week, will be so difficult as we will be serving during the service of one our own, a dearly beloved member of our committee whom has gone from our midst to her home in heaven. She was such a spark of delight and joy in every setting.

As I help clean-up after the reception yesterday, as we were folding table cloths and putting away serving dishes, I remembered that the last time this dear departed one had served by my side, which was only a few months ago, she and I discovered we had a problem after the service because one of the cloths on the memorial table had been ruined by melted wax. This dear one knew just what to do. She began working on the wax with ice, and then she took the cloth home to get the rest of the wax out with a hot iron applied to layers of cloth over and under the ruined cloth. It was returned look better than brand new.

I am so grateful for all the women in my life whom I have met over the years. My life is so very rich in friendship and in fellowship.

The week has been a full one. It has truly provided so many reasons to feel gratitude.

Now, the sun is out. The sky has large patches of blue. The snow is melting. We are going for a walk. I think we will be able to attend our out of town dinner meeting after all.

I’m back from my walk. This walk gives me another reason to rejoice in thanksgiving.

My hubby and Boston lead the way on our walk.

As I observe the quickly melting snow, Jim comments on how brisk and refreshing the air feels.

Boston and I pose for our photo on this beautiful Saturday in November.

I am so grateful for where I live. The beauty of this place continues to fill my heart with such joy. I love living in the foothills of the mountains again.