Thanksgiving came early to the Golden Isles this year.  It came last month for many of us. Specifically, it came in the days that our beloved home was being battered by Hurricane Matthew and the days that followed. In my case, I literally experienced Thanksgiving, complete with turkey and cornbread dressing while we were evacuated.  (Technically, it was stuffing to this Yankee – the reasoning being that the first helping is dressing, the second helping is filling, and the third helping is stuffing.  I made it to the third go around.) 

My family and I stayed with Mother Becky at her brother’s home in Moultrie. As many did, she had emptied her freezer of some food that would surely have been lost if left behind.  Included in her cooler was a turkey, which we cooked up the evening after the storm had passed. As we sat at the table eating the delicious smoked turkey and the incredible cornbread stuffing and field peas, it occurred to me that Thursday, November 24, would have nothing on Saturday, October 8. And it wasn’t the meal, as good as the meal was.

The morning after Hurricane Matthew blew on up the coast, we realized that things were not nearly so bad as we had feared. Many of us confirmed that the things that were most important to us were the people we had evacuated with. By that time we had already realized that most of what we had left behind was replaceable. Packing the car for an evacuation puts the relative value of things in stark contrast. Beyond that we had learned how devastating the hurricane had been for the people of Haiti and other Caribbean Islands that were walloped with a category four storm. Those least able to absorb more tragedy were dealt the hardest of blows yet again.

When considering all of these things, it is easier than normal to give thanks for the blessings and mercies we can claim. We are thankful for the loved ones that were safely out of harm’s way. We are thankful that for a few days we were forced to remember that life is more than possessions. We are thankful that there are those who dedicate their lives to protecting us and keeping us safe. We are thankful that there are those who give themselves away in service to the

community doing jobs that are often thankless. We are also thankful that many of us had the means to be able to clean up, rebuild, restock a refrigerator, and return to life as usual, within a relatively short period of time.

It’s ironic that a holiday that has largely devolved into an opportunity for sales and the acquisition of more stuff has been upstaged by the clarity of the true understanding of Thanksgiving and what is most important. We can’t keep stores closed on the day we set aside each year for giving thanks, but Hurricane Matthew forced such closings upon us.  And we survived. More than that, we thrived in some ways. Out of struggle and tragedy came a commitment to one another and a willingness to serve our neighbor. We remembered what it meant to be community and care for one another instead of bickering and fighting with one another, the latter coming so easily in an election year.

If you missed Thanksgiving in October, it’s ok, you can just lump it in with the regular commemoration this month. Thanksgiving is always in order. It’s something we could stand to do more often. So here’s an idea: make it a regular part of your life. Give thanks often, and especially for the things we take for granted. And here’s a bonus idea: do something with your thanks. All the folks that help you and make your life great – tell them. Be generous with others because people have been generous to you; because God has been generous to you. Help those who didn’t rebound from the hurricane on these or other shores. Thank God for your many blessings. I’m fairly certain your life is rich with them. Here’s hoping Thanksgiving Day is spent with those that we love and love us, regardless of date, location, or whether you serve dressing or stuffing. There are so many things to give thanks for the details really don’t matter.

Tom+

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have

done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole

creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,

and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for

the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best

efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy

and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures

that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the

truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast

obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,

through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life

again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and

make him known; and through him, at all times and in all

places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.