I kept a Seven Gratitudes journal every Friday of 2017. In searching for a way to practice gratitude today, the format just felt right.

Today I am thankful…

1. For the feeling that comes along with finally getting to just try something.

Yesterday I bounded into the kitchen with a yard pumpkin under each arm. It was time.

Until this week I annually surrendered our decor gourds for Pumpkin Moonshines or (sadly) rot. I am thankful that this week, despite a grief-laden heaviness, I got to process them into nourishment. I am thankful for the crisp thrill of the challenge and also for the surprise of how simple and grounding the whole task actually was.

How to make pumpkin puree:

Heat oven to 400* F.
Wash pumpkin, halve pumpkin, scoop out pulp and seeds, and lightly salt insides.
Roast pumpkin cut side down for 40-50 minutes (until super easily poked through with a fork).
Cool pumpkin.
Scoop pumpkin flesh into food processor to puree, and there you have it!

2. That we turned off the M*cy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I grew up watching the parade and as an adult it makes me straight up ugly cry. However, today, after a few moments of squishy nostalgia, the irritating scrape of consumeristic conjuring jarred me to Reality.

I am thankful for that, y’all.

I am glad incessant business feels wrong and exhausting. Life is so much more than that — and it’s definitely too short to entertain a literal parade of marketing when I am called to thanksgiving. I know this is preachy, but I’m celebrating the juicy wonder of Life here.

Hallelujah, the counterfeit just doesn’t taste right.

3. For a bubble of peace, for this circle of three.

*I’m about to mention pregnancy loss and grief.

Grief is a spiraled thing. This year has held such beauty and such devastating loss.

Thanksgiving last year I was thrilled to cook Granny’s dressing for the first time and also just COOK for the first time after two solid months of debilitating pregnancy nausea. We had a little Light on the way who would later die at 20 weeks and 2 days gestation. Two other pregnancies would go on to begin and end this year.

My body remembers. Scents and flavors tangle what I recall with what I now know. The sorrow of our loss is just…right there. So are the Pumpkin Muffins.

In this layered moment there is a peace that (literally) passes understanding. Love endures all things, indeed. We stand together. We had to miss being with our extended family this Thanksgiving in order to have this moment, but I am so very grateful for the opportunity to circle close together. To hold space for both the remembered and the reformation of hope in our midst.

To be us three.

4. For fresh corners.

I am thankful for the chance to face those little hidey holes of chaos. Clutter makes me feel itchy and listless, and I don’t think I am alone in that. This week we’ve pared down the toy and craft shelves and completely overhauled the utility closet (anyone need absolutely any size lightbulb, 3M hook, or battery??).

It is difficult to encounter the extra stuff tucked around our house. I bounce between frustration and shame for the mismanaged accumulation. Those feelings, however, arise from a fairly tiny point of view and three decades of capitalism training me for my “consumer responsibility.” I get through these halting moments of indignity when the Holy Spirit lifts my eyes. The scope of the gospel includes our material reality.

Facing our clutter allows us to reallocate resources, yes. It also gives us the chance to reorient our house in faith — trusting! — God’s economy where everything counts and everything is redeemed.

5. For the return of our long-lost hot water bottle, for warmth.

We found our hot water bottle in the utility closet clear-out. Henlee insisted that we go ahead and fill it up. What a wonder to witness her experience the simple comfort of warmth.

6. For good neighbors, for the invitation to be one.

Aaron came home from helping our neighbors move a couch a few weeks ago with an invitation to their Thanksgiving table. Tom and SarahKatherine are good neighbors. They have showed up for us in crisis and in celebration both, dropping everything to watch Hen, come running with a rake, sit shoulder to shoulder for a cry, or, once, even jumping into the creek to save a bouncy ball. They don’t have to be this way, but they are.

I have wondered recently about how to get better at that gracious art of “living alongside.” We have a house of transient college-aged strangers on one side who play their loudest music in the middle of the night and often lose their dogs. What would it be like to march over there with cookies and a family phone number instead of just “here’s your dog” or “would y’all mind…?” What would it be like to move out from anonymity, to go a step farther than hello?

(I know, I know. This is an age-old quandary, but it’s a live question. There are actual people 35 feet away from me right now and I DO NOT KNOW THEIR NAMES. Whew. Come on, Jesus. Show me how to do this.)

7. For Christmas shopping being kind of fun this year (and almost done).

I have had such a good time thinking through Christmas presents and such. One reason for this is that we have set some limits and definitely set our focus. I celebrate the liberation therein and feel the movement of Christ’s own giving. Bc the gospel…(see #4 above).

Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed Advent, beloveds.

The King is coming, amen!

Tell me something good. What are you thankful for today?

Seven Gratitudes on Thanksgiving Day 2022