Lessons from Thanksgiving

When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of food and togetherness. I picture long tables with lots of people and heaping plates and laughter and talking and contentment.

My extended family usually gathers at the ranch for Thanksgiving. My grandparents bought the ranch in the 60s, and now we have four generations simultaneously enjoying its blessings.  And yes, the food and togetherness both loom large on the horizon.

Because of the ranch and its role as a gathering place and sanctuary, I value such a place for families. I see the rich fruit that can come from having a place where family and friends can gather, unwind, simplify, and be together.

The fellowship is so huge there.  Not sure if it's the fires or the stars, the walks in the hills or the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen, the music, the wine, the horses, the trucks, the land.  Even the laundry is satisfying there; sometimes it's your own, sometimes it's someone else's.

I think I love that no one is in a hurry to be anywhere else than where they are.  You want to be on a walk with the stroller and your cousin or your cousin's wife or your sister-in-law.  You want to be sitting by the fire with your aunt and grandmother.  You want to be walking your child down to the barn so he can learn to brush a horse with his great-uncle.  You want to see your children swinging with your mom and husband.  You want to walk in the evening with your son and show him the stars he can't see in the city.  You want to see your 4-year-old daughter patiently try to teach her 2-year-old cousin how to color in the lines.  You want to hear about the ones who sunk the canoe because of all the togetherness (too many in the canoe!) and then wrote a song about it.  You want to listen to your brother, uncles, and cousins make music while we all dance and maybe sing a little backup.  Where else would we want to be?

There is peace in being where you are and not trying to get somewhere else.  I need to remember this back in my daily life in the city.  I need to enjoy being where I am and not consume myself with how to get to the next place.  Sit still.  Breathe deeply.  Be grateful. 

"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)