One Real Thing

This Thanksgiving is looking a bit different for everyone, but one thing remains sure, one thing is true: no matter our reality, no matter our circumstance, there is one solid, real thing that will help us to find our way back home, to a place of peace, a place of calm assurance in a life that has gone haywire for many of us.

This is a day to give thanks, and to gather ‘round a table for one, or a table for five.

This is a day that the realities of life should be allowed to fade into the background of the chaos, calamity, and crisis, and this one real thing be allowed the place of honor.

This is a day for the one real thing of thanks-giving, not just a day for turkey or football, but a day that comes forth from the heart to give thanks - for all things, in all ways.

This is the day we give thanks for that one person in our lives, or the ten or the fifty - or the hundreds whom we have the privileged blessing of calling family, friends.

This is a day that we give thanks for our breath, no matter how ragged.

This is a day that we give thanks for our heartbeat, no matter how faint.

This is a day that we give thanks for the feast and the crumbs; the abundance and the lack, for even in the lack there is more than nothing.

This is a day that we raise up our thanks-giving like a banner over our lives, insisting that nothing will remove gratitude from our hearts; nothing will dim the loud hymn of our real thanks-giving from our lips.

This is a day that we prove our mettle, test our faith, rise up above and beyond any challenge we face, and give thanks.

This is the day that - in our real thanks-giving, we will set the mark for all the thanks-givings- and Thanksgivings, to come.

For if we can give thanks when we are beaten down, sad, alone, hungry and bereft - and find blessing even in those circumstances, then we have learned that wisest of things, the real reality of living a sacred life: gratitude and thanksgiving are our firm foundation upon which we build up a life that is true and good and blessed. A heart postured in thanksgiving is a heart open to whatever blessings come our way. Thanks-giving is the fuel that fires up a life of abundance, of service, and humility. Thanks-giving is the bedrock of a life well-lived.

One real thing; thanks-giving. It’s that important.

May you have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!