Thanksgiving

Like many regularly scheduled celebrations,

trappings have a way of obscuring

our view of the original purpose,

both when they are present

and when they are absent.

It’s not the food, certainly

not about retail competition

with others to acquire more,

not about stressing to create

a magazine-cover atmosphere,

not even about trying to make

everyone else get along.

It’s about pausing…

to breathe, look, and recognize

that you are surrounded

with relationships and connections

with the potential

to reveal the purpose

behind the universe’s great mystery:

you are a beloved child of God

whose name is known and spoken

regularly in the heavens;

your unique brokenness,

both accepted and held together by grace;

love, the gift that escapes

through the cracks, spanning eternity,

when forgiveness is carved and shared abundantly.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2013 Todd Jenkins