“If the only prayer you ever said was Thank you it would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart
Don’t get me wrong.
I love Thanksgiving with all its traditions.
Family and friends gathered.
Good china carefully placed on the table.
Turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
But even with all that, this year I find myself longing for something different.
Something more.
I still want to gather with family and friends.
I am still willing to break out the good china.
But what is different is that I want a more simple meal.
Maybe turkey soup and homemade bread shared with those I love after a moment when we all genuinely said Thank you.
Two reasons push me in the direction of Thanksgiving Reconsidered.
The first is that I wonder if Thanksgiving becomes more about “too much;” a celebration of over abundance rather than a moment when we deeply and honestly give thanks. More about how it should be with everything in its place rather than a moment to look around the room or around the table and celebrate the presence of those who are gathered there with us.
The second reason is that this year, in this nation of abundance, more people struggle against hunger than at any point in my life time. In the last several weeks, as we have approached the holidays, I have seen a number of news articles that speak about how food pantries are struggling to provide the much needed food to meet the very basic needs of those who line up outside their doors. What if my meal were more simple and I took the difference between that simple meal and the lavish feast I will enjoy and shared it so that others might simply eat? I wonder…
What if we all did that?
Maybe at the end of the meal we would be able to whisper Thank you and that would suffice.
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