A Thanksgiving Lesson in the Most Unlikely Place

I often spend my morning drive to work contemplating the contents of this blog. Today, I saw the big snowmen in the yards, the Santa's being put up, the Christmas lights all over the houses, the trees making their way to the windows. Once again, I thought of how quickly we go from Halloween to Christmas leaving out, in my opinion, the most important holiday--Thanksgiving.
After seeing the icons of Christmas future, I wondered aloud what the symbol was for Thanksgiving. People don't put anything in their yards to celebrate this wonderful holiday. (Actually, we do. It's a turkey that says, "Be Thankful!") At my mother's house, she would put out these candles of Indians and Pilgrims. It was tradition that I build a log cabin from Lincoln Logs. I looked forward to it every year and even built the little log cabin after I had been away and married.
But my thoughts were that how ridiculous we are sometimes in our celebrations. We try to reduce the sublime to something inane. How do you describe the utter gratitude of what God has done for us? With a turkey? By eating ourselves silly? As I contemplated these great platitudes, I was ready to write. But first, the obligatory stop at Starbucks where I received the real LFTD (Lesson for the Day). Isn't it funny, when your mind is somewhere else, God slaps you right in the face with something really significant.
I'm standing in line and Celeste the manager greets me by name as she always does. "Good morning, Jim. The usual this morning?" I smiled and gave her the thumbs up. "This one's on me today," she said. Astonished, and yes, grateful, I thanked her. About that time one of the employees knocked over a basket of brownies on the floor. What do you think my reaction was? Would I sit there and laugh at the foolishness or clumsiness of the employee? Would I say, "If she wasn't in such a hurry, she wouldn't have to worry about knocking things off."? I didn't give it a second thought. I was down on the floor picking up the fallen brownies.
Then it hit me. I just heard the lesson of Thanksgiving in the most unlikely place. God says to me when He sends His Son, His only Son to the cross so that I could enjoy life, "It's on Me." And what is my response? I'm on my knees trying to help clean up the world that somebody else messed up. No complaining.
I carried my free gift to my car with, once again, tears in my eyes thanking God for showing me His glory in the most unusual places. Keep looking for God...and keep being thankful. Have a great day. JW