In America, Thanksgiving is upon us! I love this season of the year. I love being with family and visiting them with little haste. I love turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie. I love that we have a day set aside to give God thanks. I have often said that Thanksgiving is a time filled with food, family, friends, and football, so what’s not to love?! Thanksgiving is a great time, filled with great things………except when it’s not.
When my dad had cancer, I spent Thanksgiving in a hospital room. Two Thanksgiving later, I remember that as the first year we had an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table. I remember the first Thanksgiving without my aunt in North Carolina whose home we spent Thanksgiving in when I was a child. As a pastor, I often spent Thanksgiving week in hospitals, funeral homes, and cemeteries with hurting families. Sometimes the fourth Thursday of November rolls around in America, and it is not a great time filled with great things. So, what do we call it then? It may say Thanksgiving on the calendar, but what should we call it in our hearts?
Unquestionably, we should still call it Thanksgiving! When the turkey is eaten at the hospital cafeteria, we call it Thanksgiving! When we experience pain from the empty seat at the table, we call it Thanksgiving! When times are hard and money is tight and good news is non-existent, we call it Thanksgiving! During hard times, we have greater reason to call it Thanksgiving! The prophet Habakkuk said it this way:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
(Habakkuk. 3:17-19)
Habakkuk recognized there are difficult seasons in life, times when little good can be seen in our surrounding circumstances. Habakkuk says, however, that these are the times for great Thanksgiving. He understood that in difficult times, we discover God’s depth of strength, goodness and grace. He makes our feet like the feet of a deer or a mountain goat. He enables us to walk in difficult places, and not stumble or fall, but to be sure and steadfast. We can exult and rejoice when Thanksgiving doesn’t seem or feel appropriately named, because The Lord is our strength. He is the God who saves us! When times are difficult, Habakkuk reminds us that it is still a time for Thanksgiving. He reminds us that we can sing:
When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
Whenever the walk seems most difficult, that is the greatest time for Thanksgiving. God is so faithful to help us walk that walk. He enables us to be sure and steady on even the most difficult of paths. Being able to successfully walk through difficult times is definitely a reason to be thankful. Because of the faithfulness of God, both good times and bad times are times for Thanksgiving.
As Lent commences on Ash Wednesday, we are entering a time of introspection and prayer leading to Easter. Let us reflect on the significance of death preceding resurrection, urging readers to embrace a daily practice of surrendering self in preparation for our spiritual transformation.