Tri-Tip, Thanksgiving And The Cure For Bitterness

It’s easy to start with the little reasons for giving thanks. One can be thankful for snow on the mountain tops; for wind-blown cloud formations and for planets that shine like stars in the night sky. Smaller scale is the little kid playing with his parents while shopping or the dignity and perseverance of the man with a disability that pushes himself through the grocery store with much effort doing a thing I take for granted daily.


I need to give assent to parents that taught me to say, “Please,” and “Thank you,” and be considerate of others. I am thankful that God convinced me early on not to speak ill of my mate and to recognize the significant blessing she is. Then too I am thankful for a daughter on the threshold of adulthood and that there weren’t any bad phases of child-rearing—each was a unique blessing; the twos, the fours, the elementary school years and the beginnings of independence as well.

Tonight I have friends living life day by day as they battle cancer and wait for God’s healing. I think again on our decision to write our will and to set things in place for death or sickness. Today there is hope.

Tomorrow we’ll visit with family. We’ll revel in the taste of Tri-Tip prepared by my brother-in law and reminisce on a year gone by. It’ll be Thanksgiving night but hardly any thanks will be given, hardly a minute spared in prayer for providential keeping. Which is unfortunate for it’s a way of acting that staves off bitterness and plants us deep in the realization of how much we truly have.