Today I am celebrating Thanksgiving with nearly 40 international students who\u2019ve come to Massachusetts for graduate school. \u00a0We have come to New Hampshire for two nights of fireplaces and pies and hiking, and lots of botched communication. \u00a0Last night, we read Lincoln\u2019s proclamation that the entire nation should spend a day in thanksgiving. \u00a0It\u2019s a remarkable piece in many ways, but most remarkable because it was delivered just days after he delivered the Gettysburg Address. \u00a0How do you declare a day of Thanksgiving just weeks after the biggest blood bath in your country\u2019s history?<\/p>\n
For years now, instead of going around the table to say what we are thankful for on this day, we have asked people to share the most difficult or painful thing of the past year. When the person finishes his or her story, those of us gathered around the table lift our glasses and say, \u201cPraise God.\u201d \u00a0Over the years, we\u2019ve witnessed stories of lost girlfriends and jobs and marriages. \u00a0Spiritual desolation, loneliness, and fear. \u00a0Loved ones who died and other who are not speaking to them. \u00a0I always feel honored to hear and hold these stories.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it\u2019s hard to lift my glass after such stories. \u00a0Praise God for what? \u00a0But I do it anyway, even when I don\u2019t feel like it. \u00a0I try to live into what I believe. \u00a0That somehow all of this pain and horror and loss is being redeemed, that the world is being put right, and that goodness and mercy will follow us all of our lives \u2013 even when we don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n
This year, I talked about homeschooling. \u00a0About the dread I couldn\u2019t shake for most of September and that grabs me by the chest on occasion still. \u00a0About how I had no idea I could feel such awful things about my kids. \u00a0About the rage I experience when they won\u2019t play along. \u00a0Some of the students tonight talked about how difficult it was to leave family and friends behind to come here to study.<\/p>\n
None of that, of course, means anything to the mother grieving her child. \u00a0The mother who wishes she could spend the mornings figuring out how to be kind to her insolent son. The mother who wishes that her child were simply on the other side of the planet. \u00a0I was that mother once, and I would have wanted to claw the eyes out of the woman complaining about her difficult kids.<\/p>\n
If you are that woman, I\u2019m sorry for the lack of gratitude I pour out here so often. \u00a0I am praying for you through tears as I type this, and I hope you\u2019ll understand\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026Praise God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today I am celebrating Thanksgiving with nearly 40 international students who\u2019ve come to Massachusetts for graduate school. \u00a0We have come to New Hampshire for two nights of fireplaces and pies and hiking, and lots of botched communication. \u00a0Last night, we read Lincoln\u2019s proclamation that the entire nation should spend a day in thanksgiving. \u00a0It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,5,57,58],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grief","tag-homeschool","tag-mothers","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\n