I have been feeling far from home. A lot has occured among my extended family in the past two years. Within our growing group there have been three blessed births (including our own little Boo), one unexpected death, a not-so-unexpected but rather sudden wedding, a car accident, injuries and recoveries, graduations, financial troubles and successes, and life’s ceaseless circle of holidays, gatherings, and celebrations, Thanksgiving being my favorite. I would like to be able to share the joys, help with the needs, and hold a hand when a hand needs holding, but I can do so only from a distance. I am too far from the hands-on cherishing of extended family. (Somebody call the WHAAAAmbulance.)

Wishing does little, and self-pity even less. I am blessed. I am blessed to have an extended family that loves us and prays for our well-being and faithfulness. (If this is a stretch and they merely tolerate us, then I shall blissfully remain in my delusional world.) I am blessed to have a quiet and peaceful (loud and boisterous, actually) celebration here with my own dear ones, something I adore! I am blessed that this year I do not have to share my allotment of Stephen’s savory gravy–a precious commodity already stretched too thin among the eight of us, never mind leftovers. I am blessed to live here in the desert where I never wanted to be and where God is teaching me contentment.

I remember at Thanksgiving that God has us in our desert for a reason, for His season, and my duty is to be grateful and serve Him here. It is a day and a life meant for gratefulness, not self-pity, and shame on me for my distraction and my selfishness. Others have moved far from family and off their land, and they did not lose themselves in a mire of pity–the Pilgrims come to mind.

Ah, the Pilgrims. I love the week or two leading up to Thanksgiving. We have been enjoying an in-depth study of the Pilgrims this year, thanks to numerous free resources that homeschoolers love to share, as well as through Barbara Rainey’s treasure given to us by a dear friend. It is a parent’s delight (and sometimes dismay) to note what children take from a lesson. My children are enthralled with the fact that Miles Standish, a grown man, actually named his sword and spoke to it as if it were a friend. They can’t get over it–a grown man after all. They wonder if he introduced his sword to people he met: “Hi, I’m Miles Standish and this is Gideon. He will understand if you don’t wish to shake his hand.”

I think the point that struck them and me most–as it always does–is the Pilgrim’s open and genuine trust in and gratitude toward God no matter what, not acknowldging Him as a distant spirit, but binding their lives to Him as a just and caring Savior. The minute details of God’s providence during their journey from Scrooby to Leiden to Cape Cod and through those first years is remarkable and so often overlooked in today’s self-absorbed (guilty!) Thanksgiving particpants. The pilgrims gave God full credit for their successes and turned all matters of necessity to Him in prayer, with amazing success. In a world so willing to lay down principles and overturn beliefs, it is refreshing to remember the Pilgrims and the sacrifices they made–enormous sacrifices we pampered Americans cannot fathom–for faith, family, and Godly principles. It reveals my pity-party for what it is–trivial and sinful.

However blessed I am to have my dear husband and precious children to spend this day with, I am even more blessed that the God who brought the Pilgrims to a world where they could worship freely is the same God who guides my little family, who rules our lives with His sovereign will, and for whom we too must and will sacrifice with willing and grateful hearts.

Enjoy your day, your family and friends, the food, and the providence of a God who supplies all things. As for me, the pity party has ended, and I count my many thanks.

…a warm fire on a chilly Thanksgiving morning

…a tousle-haired boy who smiles when he sees me

…children with words spilling over

…full pantries and freezers and two pies made by two small girls

…that dog

…a man with strong arms who roasts an amazing (and heavy) turkey

…those Americans who are not blind to the decay of a once great and God-fearing country

…those who work the earth and love it and give a bit of it up to all of us

…a few minutes of silence to listen to Him

…this day, this desert, this duty–this place and time and season of service

A blessed Thanksgiving to all! May you truly live in gratefulness, as this is one of His means of gifting you with joy.

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