There's Always a Reason to Give Thanks

My prayer list grows daily. So many people are dealing with grief, loss, and serious illness within their family. As my heart continues to ache for many friends who have suffered devastating losses since last Thanksgiving, may this family recollection from a Thanksgiving twenty-five years ago provide encouragement to focus on an attitude of gratitude.This posting originally appeared with the title, "The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't" on November 23, 2014.
The Thanksgiving of 1982

                A strong woman was born in 1924. Bernyce Smith Gates, my mother and the only child of her parents, showed her strength at seven when her mother, a trained nurse, began assisting families in the community. These neighbors could not afford health care during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In Grandmother’s absence, Mother helped her father prepare meals as she stood on a stool so she could reach the stove. Soon she was cooking complete meals. Mother worked in the fields with her parents as they farmed. She excelled in school even though she always walked to grade school and rode a lengthy bus route in high school.
              My most vivid memory of her strength was in the fall of 1982. Mother had watched her parents weaken in health and had spent about two years giving them full-time assistance. She had put her own life on hold. Grandfather’s condition deteriorated, and he was hospitalized. Grandmother suffered a massive stroke and was placed in a rehabilitation center over seventy miles away. Within two weeks, Grandfather had died. 
                The week of Thanksgiving rolled around. Grandmother was making little progress in her rehabilitation; however, she had a few weeks of therapy remaining so would not be home for the Thursday holiday.  My sister and I, both in our twenties, were devastated by the loss of Grandpa since our maternal grandparents had lived with us all our lives.  We both said, “Let’s not have a family Thanksgiving celebration.”  Mother, without blinking an eye or pausing a second to reflect on her response, immediately shot back, “Thanksgiving is about being thankful.” 
            We celebrated Thanksgiving that year because my mother knew there was always a reason to give thanks even though she had just lost her beloved father to death and her mother, a once vibrant, intelligent, creative woman was lying helpless in a rehabilitation center. This pivotal moment in time has provided strength for me whenever I am faced with insurmountable difficulties and want to give up.
            Anyone who knows my mother knows her as a champion supporter of family, orchestrating events in her home to make anyone she considers family or friends comfortable and welcome. Her entire life has been devoted to being a keeper of her home, bolstering her family all the while. Mother would never put down family celebrations, but she hearkens back to a time when the emphasis was on the actual commemoration. She recalls the time when Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter were religious days. Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day were times to remember deceased loved ones, the miraculous birth of our nation, and the sacrifice of young men she had known all her life – not a time for shopping the aggressively touted sales, publicized as must participation for the savvy shopper.
            At this season, may we truly give thanks. All of us could spend hours compiling a list of blessings and not even scratch the surface of even the blessings we daily receive. Hopefully, we can take time this week to read and then meditate throughout the week on this psalm of praise.

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, He is God; it is He who made us, and not we ourselves; 
We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; 
Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations.

Autumn trees in the yard at my parents' farm.
Photographed during the Thanksgiving season of 2010.