Giving Thanks
This year I’m hosting Thanksgiving dinner for 18 family members. Both my side of the family and my husband’s will be coming. So I’ve been preparing; shopping, cleaning, you know the drill. (Check out this countdown on Kids Dish if you are feeling overwhelmed and looking for help getting organized!)
The problem I keep running into is that I keep getting choked up.
Last Thanksgiving my mother was in the midst of chemotherapy and I was about to undergo my hysterectomy. We enjoyed ourselves with the big black cloud hanging over our heads but still, it was there. It wasn’t out best year, to say the least. This year feels so celebratory for us. And by us, I mean me and my mom. We keep talking about how blessed we are, how thankful we are … to be alive. To be spending Thanksgiving with our families again. I’ll bet that’s what the Pilgrims really felt … relief and joy at being alive. Thanking God because it was clear to them that He provided for them.
It is different for us, however, because the connection to God’s provisional care isn’t as strong. Most of us work to earn the money to buy groceries from a store. We aren’t sowing our land and reaping what we sow. But those Pilgrims … well, they knew that the land was feeding them and God created the land and they were thankful.
In the case of me and my mom … we know God provided for us. With doctors and diagnostics and caregivers. We knew and we are thankful.
This year we give thanks to God, for:
- Doctors, nurses and other health care providers
- Mammography, ultrasound and other diagnostic procedures
- Healthy breasts, healthy ovaries and healthy bodies
- Family, friends and neighbors who are both
- Flowers, fruit and gifts bestowed upon us
- Sunshine, rain and the wind beneath our wings
- Paid work, pro bono work and the opportunity to volunteer
- Children … mine, yours and everyone’s
- The gift of an earthly life and each day we are gifted to add to it
What are you most thankful for?
cancer, breast cancer, Thanksgiving
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