Published: November 26, 2008 10:13 pm         

Thankful for her own pair of shoes

Holidays have a way of sneaking up on you. People I’ve talked to can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving, and yet the day is falling on the fourth Thursday of November like always. 

I rarely give much thought to this particular day. I simply show up at my brother’s house, break bread with the family and head back home. Sometimes it feels more like an obligation than a day on which to be especially thankful.

But this year, gratitude is on my mind. I started writing out daily gratitude lists a week or so ago. As Mom likes to say, “The world is a mess.” And because things are so messy, I don’t want to get caught up in the doom and gloom. Keeping a gratitude list is one way for me to remember that there is still so much to be thankful for.

I think about my friend whose dad died recently and how she and her family will be spending their first Thanksgiving without him. I’m reminded of how grateful I am to be able to celebrate the day with my mom and with my great-aunt, who is celebrating her 91st birthday.

I think about a woman I met recently who is battling one of the more aggressive forms of breast cancer and refuses to give up. I’m thankful that our paths crossed because I’ve been inspired by her fortitude and her faith.

I think about the woman I spoke with on the phone who’d lost her home in a bank foreclosure and how the kindness of a stranger will allow her to get that home back. I’m grateful to know there are still people in the world who see someone in need and try to do something to help.

I think about the four children who died in the September bus accident and their families and how the holidays will never be the same again for any of them. I also think about the bus driver and about the truck drivers involved in the same accident and how their lives also have been changed forever.

I’m grateful that my extended family is safe and sound and has no heavy burdens to bear.

I think about a photograph I saw online of a young Congolese child squatting in a street to scrape up and eat flour that had been spilled on the ground. And I wonder how many young mouths could have been fed with the amount of leftovers there will be after our Thanksgiving dinner. The photograph reminds me to be grateful that I not only have more than enough food to eat but a home in which to prepare it and plates on which to eat it.

I think about all the men and women serving our country in the armed forces overseas. I think about how they put their lives on the line every day, knowing I couldn’t do what they do. I’m thankful for them, their willingness and their sacrifice.

When I think about what I’m thankful for this holiday season, I can’t help but think, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Any second, I could be in someone else’s less comfortable shoes. I could lose a loved one. I could be battling a life-threatening illness. I could be homeless and scrounging for food. I could be asked to die for my beliefs.

But for today, I’m thankful to be who I am, and where I am. I’m thankful for God’s grace, which I’ve heard explained this way: Justice is getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve; and grace is what you absolutely don’t deserve.

Deb Saine is a columnist for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com