This week has come roaring down on me like a steam engine. I am not sure what happened that caused so many projects, so many systems to align to produce an overload. But it did and here I am in the midst of it all. For the most part, ‘it is all good’, as my son likes to say. Nothing is broken, no one is ill. All that needs to be accomplished will be done. But for now, I am a little on the frenzied side. I do know, however, that in the end I will recognize the blessings that have come my way even while, at the moment, they are invisible to me.

And aren’t blessings what this week is about? As we approach this Thursday when we will gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, it is a time to count our blessings. Whatever the original meaning of this holiday…..historical, national, political, religious…..it is a day when we can take a break from the normal rhythm of our life, take stock of all the goodness that has come our way, and offer thanks. It is my prayer that, no matter our life situation at this point of this year, everyone can find at least one thing they call a blessing. What is your blessing?

I am thinking of all the people who will have been involved in bringing the Thanksgiving dinner to any table. Unseen hands, full lives, people paid well and those who have worked for wages that neither fit the work or the effort, have all contributed to any meal that will be shared. From tables laid with china and crystal and those with disposables dinnerware served from long lines of strangers, lives we do not know have sacrificed for our feast. Those bent over potato fields.Those whose muscles ache from lifting pumpkins onto trucks. Farmers who raised turkeys also took their lives for our sake. In factories, people ran machines that churned butter and bottled cream. Truck drivers probably missed a child’s baseball game or concert so food would arrive at grocery stores in time for our holiday celebration. Women who checked out and bagged the groceries we purchased went home to soak their swollen feet after standing for hours on a concrete floor.

And then there are the hands, hands we know and love, who make the pies, mash the potatoes, create the stuffing just the way a grandmother did so many years ago, so we might not only have our stomachs fed but also our rich, deep memories.

As we approach this Thursday, let us never forget that the meal we will eat is a feast denied to the majority of the world. It is a meal that is filled with hard work, sacrifice, and great love. To sit down to such a feast is a blessing. A blessing which is accompanied by all the other blessings……at least one…..of which we are privileged to offer our gratitude.

I offer this prayer written by Brian Woodcock. If you are not a ‘natural’ pray-er, you might want to make it your own on Thursday: ” A blessing on this food and all who have prepared it. A blessing on this house and all who eat within it. A blessing on the work of buying and selling, of carrying and storing, of farming and harvesting. A blessing on the land and all who live upon it. A blessing on the rain and sun, the care of the Creator; a blessing on this food. Amen”