Thanksgiving 2021

His mother’s glare was enough to stir the dead, or at least get him to stand and open his hymnal.

Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices;

He was always aware of God, thankful even. He didn’t know why he needed to go to church, let alone on a Thursday, to be reminded of all his blessings. He’d learned about God in church, but he felt God could be worshipped anywhere.

who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

I guess he’d learned about God from his parents, too, not so much from the things they said, but from just being their child. He loved how it felt to sit in his mother’s lap, to talk alone with his father. He knew they loved him, even when he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t something he understood, but he figured God was somehow like them.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us, to keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills of this world in the next.

As the youngest, he spent a lot of time alone, but he didn’t mind. He had a great big back yard (one of the things he was thankful for) and a dog who always found it easy to wag his tail. When they played, he was never lonely. He liked the way the sunlight touched the branches, how the clouds made funny shapes, and how the wind caused the leaves to dance. God was a part of all that. God was all that, he thought. It was as if God was playing beside him.

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given, the Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaven the one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore; 

His mother reached down and lightly touched his head during the third verse. His father looked over and smiled. It was like they were one and the same, but different, too. He stopped thinking about the fact that it was Thursday, that he had to get up and go to church, or wear fancy clothes. He was grateful to be standing there. Loved. By them and by God. He didn’t know what to do with all that love. He fidgeted, looked around, then decided to join the others and sing.

for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. 

Happy Thanksgiving Brushstroke Readers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov8b9rF6VSg