Part of me wants to join this growing social media trend of sharing images from Thanksgivings past – and that certainly sounds like a tempting exercise in nostalgia. But, instead, I’m going to be grateful for today, for this moment in the year 2020; and that is going to remain my theme for the rest of the week and on through Advent into Christmas.

Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Because Thanksgiving 2020 is real and it is absolutely happening right now. Those 17th Century Pilgrims didn’t say, “Thank you, Lord for last year’s feast at Aunt Sally’s in London.” No, they looked at the terribly difficult year they had been through, and they grieved the loved ones they had lost, and they looked into an uncertain future, and they said, “We are grateful, God, for this food, for the gift of your love today, and for the gift of this moment.”

So, to be sure, I’d love to see Andrew, Alicia, Naomi, and Craig along with our four beautiful grandchildren. I’d love to put a long table up in the living room and cover it with a lavish assortment of calories and carbohydrates. I’d love to post the latest epic family photograph featuring ages ranging from ninety-two to just ten days.

But instead it’s going to be Rebekah, Derek, Grace, David, and Max Retriever, and for this blessing I am truly full with thanksgiving.

– DEREK