If we are to be thankful for the things that we have in our life, we need to first notice what we have. We need to stop, look around, and let our eyes and hands rest on that which is around us. We need to not take for granted what we have, because taking for granted means that we have stopped seeing what surrounds us.
So for our Thanksgiving, we left our house, we found some things we have known before and some things we haven’t. We noticed the people close to us and some views that were far away. And we took notice.
We took notice of the brown, red, peeling tree trunks, and how they clustered by the path.
We noticed how the rising sun hit the dying brown ferns and turned them flame red.
We noticed how the fresh rain water from the night before made the many small waterfalls gush fuller.
We noticed how the board walks shone when wet and how that made our steps more careful so we did not slip.
We definitely saw this sign and took notice of their notice. (But we may not have listened to it.)
We lay our hands on the wet, cool, bright green moss that covers up the straight mountain side towering over us.
And when we hit the clearing, we felt the breezes on our faces again, clear and warm in this tropical November.
We noticed where our house lies, behind the bay, across from Olomana, a half a mile or less from the Koolau Mountains.
Surely we cannot be grateful for something that we do not know exists, and for something that we do not take time to acknowledge.
So we stopped to watch the babies eat the Thanksgiving food.
And closed our eyes for just a second when that first bite of pie was tasted.
Easter celebrates things past, and Veteran’s Day only celebrates a few of us, often for things that happened years ago. Christmas marks the birth of One 2,000 years ago. But Thanksgiving celebrates today, what we have and see and feel and hold. It is always the holiday of the present. It celebrates not what we were, but what we have become, even down to the way we put our turkey in our mouths. And for that we can be thankful.
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