« You know you wanna kn… | Home | Getting stuffed or ge… »

November 27, 2005 at 1:02 pm

Post-Thanksgiving thoughts (and the first day of Advent)...

I usually take Thanksgiving as an opportunity to ponder on the previous year of my life. As I’ve said before (e.g., here), Thanksgiving always seems like more of a time for reflection than New Year’s Day ever does. Something happened over the past week that doesn’t make me feel much like externalizing on my own life, though.

Two years ago, my father-in-law died. Not long before that (the previous Spring, I think) our friend Ruthie Harrison’s father died. Ruthie is a great girl who is part of our church community. She took care of her father before he passed away, and from talking to her about it, I know that it was far from an easy process. From my own experience (and the experience of my wife), I know that “getting over” the loss of a loved one is difficult (“getting over” is purposely in quotes, as I know the no one ever really fully recovers from something like this). In fact, today, two years after losing my Julianna’s father, I can honestly say that we almost feel normal, especially concerning the holidays.

Well, last week, we got word that our friend Ruthie’s mother died. It was completely unexpected: her mother had gone to the doctor because of chest pain and never made it back home.

This is so sad and the holiday season just adds that much more weight to the grief that already exists. Thinking that Ruthie, like us, was just beginning to recover from her dad’s passing when this happened just breaks my heart. We mourn with Ruthie and pray for her peace and the peace of her brother (they are pretty much the only two remaining family members).

Sometimes, even during a holiday like Thanksgiving, we feel like we get the short end of the stick. We feel like there isn’t much to be thankful for and that life can’t get much worse. I have a great photo (that Julianna took the other day) that illustrates this perfectly, but I forgot my camera’s USB cable at work. I’ll upload it when I get back tomorrow. After looking at it, whether you feel like the turkey in the picture or not, search yourself and find a way to express gratitude for the fact that we are living creatures in God’s kingdom. It can be hard (it might even feel impossible), but know that God doesn’t stop caring — no matter how hard His plan might be to understand.

Today is the first day of Advent. Let us begin this new season remembering that God loves us so much that he sent His son to guide us — a lost and forgotten people — back to Him. Whether life is going great or life sucks, this truth cannot be shaken. God is with us whether we think so or not.

Update: View the aforementioned photograph here.

Digg This Story

Save This Page

No Trackbacks

Trackback Link:

Comments (4)