The Table

      I look outside to our back deck and see our table - the one we purchased for a high school graduation celebration and the one we gathered around on summer nights as mosquitoes swarmed - all covered up in a tarp to be protected for the onslaught of winter.  It's a sad sight, just like the grey November skies, barren trees, and swirling snow flurries.  This is not the prettiest month up here in the north.  It feels like such a LONG TIME until we will use that table again - like about 7 months!
     For that reason, I'm so grateful that November features another table, the table we'll all sit around next week to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Is there any greater holiday?  How I love the lack of commercialism, the opportunity to simply celebrate a great meal (Ok, I'm cooking, so maybe great is a stretch) with loved ones and remember how blessed we are to have one another, to live in this country, and to know the Source of every good gift.  For me, November would really be sad without Thanksgiving!
      This weekend as I prepare my shopping list, start cleaning the house, and figure out a centerpiece, I'll try not to look outside to the pathetic draped table on the back deck, and instead, focus on the beauty of what will happen indoors.  May you all experience a truly God-blessed Thanksgiving...