Another Thanksgiving

“Another Thanksgiving down the tubes.”  So said a not-to-be-named brother as he and his family left our house Saturday evening following a day of eating, visiting, card-playing, walking in the park, and whatever else folks did during that time.  He didn’t mean it in a nasty or curmudgeonly way, I’m sure.  It was a long and tiring day for them, as they started it in northern Kansas, then drove back to Wichita and came to our place in time to finish out the day.

Yet in a way, he’s probably more correct than he may know regarding Thanksgivings “down the tubes.”  We all are getting older.  We have had many, many more Thanksgivings in our past than we have in our futures.  And for all we know, we may not have any more in our futures.  So it would seem to me that we would want to make each one count; make each one something to be remembered; make each one genuine and special.  Because we never know whether it will be our last.

Yes, it’s tiring.  We don’t travel as well as we used to.  We don’t have the strength and stamina that we used to have.  It takes more out of us to clean the house, cook the food, set up the tables, and take out the trash.  Gasoline costs more.  Food costs more.  We’re battling more chronic ailments and infirmities.  We like to regress into our ruts more so than we used to do.  And some of us may have to take an hour or so out and nap in the middle of the afternoon just to make it through the day.

God willing, we’ll do it all again Christmas.  We’ll celebrate with the in-laws.  We’ll celebrate with the family.  We’ll try to make schedules fit, possibly having to zip (as fast as old people can zip) from one house to another in time for the celebrations.  We’ll fumble with gifts and ooo and aahh as the grandkids open theirs.  There will be home-prepared food in abundance…some brought in by the guests.  And there will be the traditions that yet another year will help bind hearts and souls together.

And so it goes (to borrow a phrase).  The wise man  said that there is a time appointed for everything.  There is a time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.  There is a time for thanksgiving; a time for being together; for enjoying the company of friends and loved ones.  If we are Christians, we recognize that just as we recognize that there is something more…that God has set eternity in our hearts…and we prepare here for that great and unending Thanksgiving feast there in the presence of the God who made us and loves us.