Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Ben Wheeler
GRATITUDE
As we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas season, I am grateful to God who I believe helps me keep positive. Truth be told, it hasn’t always been easy for me. For my family, Easter was very different but in hindsight, it was an Easter I will never forget. This year our Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas celebrations will not be what they have been in the past. What we have learned is that life right now can change so much in course of 5 days and in an effort to keep sane we really plan one day at a time. This has allowed me to look at things through a different perspective. Maybe, because of how we need to give thanks and celebrate this year, we will create a new tradition or will be more grounded in focusing on how much love there is right around us.
Like many families in years past we have had sometimes as many as three Easter celebrations in one day, two and sometimes three Thanksgiving stops and four different Christmas celebrations between Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. I am so grateful for the chaos and love that surrounds all of that. My children who are 6 and 8 got to celebrate and feel the love from family members as young as 10 all the way to their great grand mother who is 94 and still prepares a meal each holiday where all are welcome at her table. I can’t wait to get back to that! But this year will be different. This year, I imagine I will look around a dinner table that won’t have as many seats but just as much love. I imagine I will look around and see a wife who is working harder than she ever thought possible not only for her employer but for all in her family. I will see my two daughters who have shown so much flexibility and willingness to adapt in ways we never thought possible. I’ll see two girls who throughout the course of this have learned that your sibling is your best friend. I will be focused in the moment, appreciating and feeling gratitude for all God has given me. I will have time to feel that love inside that can only come from the sparkle in your child’s eye or when you hear them laugh from their belly and best of all the look that only your spouse can give that says, “ I love you, and look what we have created together.” This year, that won’t be a fleeting moment.