Borderlines: Sketches from an Empty Quarter: Thanksgiving 2024

2024. What an eminently forgettable ride.

Still, there is much more to be thankful for than to be remorseful about.

The cancer that once again came to call into our family has now departed.

The seemingly endless election season is rapidly drawing to a close, with only a handful of races yet to be decided. Most of the regional conflicts around the world have been turned over to the active participants and few American forces are still in harm’s way. Flu and COVID-19 vaccines are easily available for those who want them. Even though the proverbial wolf has been pounding on the door of many of us for months, it was built by our forebearers to withstand an adversity much greater than what we now face. The economy is far from dead. Jobs still exist. The cost of fuel has lessened. Food is abundant, if not inexpensive. This is not the Great Depression our Grandparent’s suffered through. Hailstorms and drought have come and gone and left their inevitable marks, but we have survived them as we always do. (We Farmers are still complaining about nearly everything though)

If you are reading this then you’re still in The Game.

It takes fire to temper steel.

We are Americans. This is our unique holiday. A coming together time for all the myriad participants in our exceptional experiment as a constitutional republic.

Individually we may be battered and broken, but collectively we will pick up the pieces and play again. I like to think the late Charlie Daniels had it right when he penned the lyrics to “In America”:

“And we may have done a little bit
Of fightin’ amongst ourselves,
But you outside people best leave us alone.

‘Cause we’ll all stick together,
And you can take that to the bank.
That’s the cowboys and the hippies.
And the rebels and the yanks”

We may be remorseful for what we have lost, personally and as a society, but today we are thankful for what we still have. The future is not going away. The only constant in this world is change … and it is up to us to change for the better.

And were it possible, right now I would change into my hiking boots and spend a few hours walking in a far and lovely wood, but since that cannot be this year, I will still be content to stay where I am with all that I love and have been given, among the people and places in my life, and the choices that brought me, alive and well, to this remarkable holiday.

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.