Thanksgiving

-
Today is Thanksgiving and this weekend we focus on the things we are grateful for. Many families will or already have had a dinner with turkey and all of the fixings. At a lot of those tables there will be a tradition of going around and asking people what they are thankful for. I always have a struggle with that tradition. I have trouble boiling down what I am grateful to just one or two sentences. Often I have to tell stories to explain why I am thankful. Who really wants to sit and listen to me talk for 5 minutes about why I am thankful when there is turkey on the table?

Yesterday I started out feeling weary and tired. I was blessed by a gathering at church that was fun but also a teaching that met me exactly where I was at. I entered the gathering feeling alone and left feeling abundantly blessed. To say that I am grateful for friends would not begin to express the things in my life that I am grateful for.

Seven years ago I walked through the world feeling disconnected. I wasn’t without friends – I had some very close ones. Yet there is a difference between having friends and feeling connected. When you are connected those around you share your burdens and joy and you share theirs.

At our gathering this year I was reminded that when God speaks of family he is speaking of something much broader. I may not sit around the dining room table with them but there is still a sense of connectedness. There was the woman who put her arm around me as she walked by and embraced me without saying a word. There was another friend who invited me for dinner tonight. Still another friend shared with me a beautiful story about God meeting her in a difficult life transition. There was the pastor who made sure that I and others like me knew that the message was not just for those in traditional family units. There was the friend that phoned to share the news of the birth of their baby. Then there was the family who I shared turkey dinner with last night.

So today I am not just thankful for friends. I am thankful for community. I am thankful for connectedness. I am awestruck by a God who provides all of this and still has the patience to gently remind me what I have when I forget.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you for the deep and profound rhythms of vulnerability...I sure do appreciate your pictures because in so many ways I am on this steep learning curve of expansion regarding family...I have never known "normal" family (seems like an oxymoron) and so these days have been filled with gatherings that are with what is typically labeled "friends" but I would sooner call family. My wife and children are my first real experience of being known intimately and the words you used to so eloquently describe these kind of vulnerable thoughts brought tears to my eyes as I think of how lost I would be without these "knowers" of my soul, the ones who stop and notice me, in the loneliest part of my being-they want to know-and I'm reminded there is a love that is far higher than I'm living right now...thanks for helping me not feel so sorry for my self and reminding me of what matters...when my mom died, I thought my experience of family did too...the words you so passionately paint are a lift out of despair on a day like today...thanks for expanding my picture...sure did need that...
11:08 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jillian Michaels - Maximize Your Life

-
I was really excited when I heard Jillian Michaels was coming to Winnipeg.  If you don't know who Jillian Michaels she is the trainer that is known for being on the Biggest Loser.  Jillian's contestants are often the winners of the Biggest Loser (as was the case this year with a contestant who had everything against her in the beginning.)  The reason I like Jillian is not because of her training skills.  It is because she has an ability to get to the heart of a contestant and figure out what it is that is getting in the way of their goals. When she came on stage see was instantly endearing.  She swapped her high heels for flip flops saying that she felt like she had done her duty by coming out in them.  She broke down what she was going to talk about - nutrition, working out, mind.  She was real about the fact that many of the people who came to see her, wanted to know how to lose weight so she spent the first hour talking about it.  The second hour was all about how to meet
Read more

Enough of Too Much

-
Image
This morning I woke up and decided I have had enough.  I am sick of feeling yucky all of the time.  I want to feel better and I know that in order to do that, I need to start making healthier food choices.  I knew this day would come. A few weeks ago I started exercising.  This is generally a first step for me.  Now this morning I decided to face the scale.  I have gained weight -- a lot of weight.  So enough.  It is time to start making better choices and tracking my food again.  Today I started tracking again.  It feels good. Interestingly, I also decided I was sick of getting so many emails from the various companies I have given my email address to for whatever reason.  I unsubscribed from at least ten lists.  Then I cleaned my apartment (okay that’s probably because I have people coming over tomorrow.)  I feel like I can breathe all of a sudden.  Like I have more space.  I used to get about 20 emails a day.  Today I got two and unsubscribed from their lists too. Getting rid of
Read more

Gratitude

-
I have given up on keeping a gratitude journal about 10 times.   I would try.   Stick with coming up with 3 things I was grateful for every day for a month.   Then I would stop.   It never really made me feel better.   The only thing it accomplished was to check off another ‘should’ from my list. Honestly keeping a gratitude journal just gave me a reason to feel bad about myself.   I would think: “Why is it so hard to come up with my three things?’ “How long before I actually feel grateful for this stuff?’ “Why am I so ungrateful for the gifts that God has given me?” “What’s wrong with me?” “I am a bad person.” Okay that is a bit dramatic but I do know that actually trying to keep a gratitude journal and having it fail did make me feel bad.   So I stopped trying years ago.   The issue was that people I respect would say that gratitude is a requirement for living a fulfilled life.   I believed them.   It makes a lot of sense.   It just didn’t work for me. Fast f
Read more