Thanksgiving

I got up early this morning with Daniel, our 7-month old son. At 5 am when a little baby is communicating his displeasure and you have three other sleeping children in close proximity the natural response is to rush to the bedside of the infant and restore quiet to the house. In my hurried effort to hush Daniel I threw off the covers, through on some sweatpants and scurried to his crib... shirtless, which seemed innocuous enough at the time.

Daniel calmed down and I walked around with him for 20 minutes or so before settling in the recliner in the living room. He eventually dozed off into a light sleep as I held him against my chest. I may have failed to recognize it before, but the biting chill in our living room this morning told me that fall is officially upon us and I was ill-prepared for that reality this morning. The thing is, once you get the baby asleep too much moving around disturbs his slumber and you don’t want to tempt him. At that point, getting a shirt on or digging up a blanket somewhere has inherent risks that I was unwilling to take and the lack of foresight when I initially woke up became evident. For 2 hours I was refrigerating myself. The other kids woke up around 7 and Betsy too. She came and got Daniel and fed him and put him back in his crib. I returned to my bed, just vacated by Betsy who serves has a natural space heater, and Thanksgiving morning really began...

I am thankful for warm blankets, especially the heated blanket that makes it’s way onto our bed every Fall. I am thankful for coffee in general, but the first cup of the day in particular... it warms the body and the soul. I am thankful for slippers. I am thankful for the light humming of the dehumidifier that drowns out some of the noise in a noisy home. I am thankful for early morning hours when everyone is quiet and sleeping, the calm before the storm. I am thankful for the way the light breaks through gradually beautifully announcing the gift of another day. I am thankful for the sweet and especially pleasant demeanor for the first 30 minutes after the boys wake up when they are most rested, and I thankful for the next 13-14 hours each day of goofiness, laughter, conflict and chaos... every “awww” moment and every “oh no you didn’t moment” is a gift. I am thankful for extra sauce on pizza at a time when the food service industry is being stingy with the ingredients. I am thankful for paper plates and plastic cups... I know they aren’t helping the environment much but they cut dish washing time significantly. I am thankful of Ibuprofun. I am thankful for chocolate chip cookies... which reminds me, I am thankful for milk. I am thankful that I am a daddy... nothing else brings so much joy or frustration, nor does anything else demand so much work and yield such profound reward, nor does anything else expose my sinful heart so plainly or reveal God’s grace to me so abundantly. I am thankful for Nintendo DS, even when an 8-year-old takes me to school in Mariokart... of course he cheated. I am thankful for football, both real and fantasy... how else would I ever realize my dream of being a General Manager for a pro football team? I am thankful that TV hasn’t always existed because I am thankful for books by dead guys and I assume the absence of the one led to the beauty of the other... people just don’t write the way they used to. I am thankful for Facebook... how else would I have 500-plus friends all of who know I am doing on at a given moment. I am thankful for terrible cartoons and kid’s shows... they buy us a few minutes of peace here and there. I am thankful for nephews and a beautiful little niece... our boys have the most fun when they are together with their cousins. I am thankful for $1 menu infiltrating the fast food market... I mean, it’s all just $1. I am thankful for the gas leaf blower, what I call “the breath of God”... it’s just slightly more efficient then the push broom. I am thankful light sabers... both real and plastic... Jedi’s make the world a safer, better place. I am thankful for being called by God. I am thankful that he has chosen to love me in Christ, and that he has seen fit to invite me into partnering with him in reconciling all things to himself. I am thankful for Jesus’ bride, the church... in all her weaknesses, flaws and shortcomings she still somehow advances the Kingdom of God and reflects the beauty of her husband even if only dimly... the fact that He gave his life for her leads me to believe she is worth giving my life to as well. Speaking of which, I am thankful for my bride. I am thankful that I wake up every morning to the most beautiful woman in the world... and the best looking too. I am thankful for her partnership in everything, especially in raising four men of God... I am truly a much better man, husband, father and Christian because of her. I am thankful for anything that makes her smile... even if it’s at my expense. I am thankful for her patience and tolerance of me and all the ridiculousness that sharing life with me entails. I am thankful for her love for Jesus that fuels her love for me and her children... only because her heart is His is she able to love me so well. I am thankful the scriptures, that through them God chose to reveal himself to us. I am thankful that his Word truly is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. I am thankful for the cross of Christ that saves me from my sin and the resurrection of Jesus that saves me to a new life. I am thankful that his grace to me is not without effect... it’s like a warm blanket.