A Thanksgiving Message from Mother Nikki

Dearly Beloveds,

So many of us are not having the Thanksgiving we may have imagined we’d have this year. Some of us have lost loved ones, most of us have our interaction with family curtailed by the pandemic, and others of us are feeling the stress of constantly hearing news of natural disasters, oppression, and biting political rhetoric. But being thankful doesn’t mean we don’t also ‘feel’ other things, like sadness, or worry or uncertainty. All those feelings are real and valid, and we don’t have to ‘fix’ them in order to enter into Thanksgiving. Instead, as we are present to God’s love for us in the moment, and accept where we are and how the world is in any given moment, we are being faithful in the prayerful act of Giving Thanks for our breath, our humanity, and the blessing of being real.

So be gentle with yourselves and with loved ones (we’re to love our neighbor, so ‘loved ones’ means everybody, right?), knowing you can feel jubilant and jaded by turns, and still be engaged in the act of giving God thanks. Don’t let yourselves be pressured by those crafty commercials of feasting families, all together and laughing around a big table. That’s just one way Thanksgiving can look, and NOT the only way it has to look. I myself am thankful for each of you, and that however each of our Thanksgivings may look, that’s absolutely okay, because God is right there with us.

“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.” Philippians 1:3-4, The Message