Today we are in the throes of Thanksgiving prep as many of you are as well. But each year something happens unexpectedly that can throw a wrench in our well-thought plans, and this one is no exception. How do we navigate these disappointments without letting them ruin the day?

Michele Morin, at (in)courage.me, shares a post titled, Thanksgiving Celebration and Lament, that will point your gaze in the right direction this Thanksgiving, I know it has ours.

Thanksgiving Day serves as an annual reminder that we live with one foot in celebration and the other in lament. Our only prayer for peace is to own the sadness; to recognize the power that grinding sorrow has over our hearts — and then to throw the door wide open to the feast.

By acknowledging and even embracing lament — an art we have lost here in North America — our celebration can be restored. Our feasting can be deeply sincere, even in a context of deep suffering or deep disappointment.

Take some time to click over and read it. And then tomorrow, remember that your sorrows and disappointments don’t ruin your celebration, they remind you of your need for God and His care in the midst of it. He was a man of sorrows and was acquainted with grief. He alone can comfort you as you celebrate all He has done.

Happy Imperfect Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Tom and Debi

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