Thanksgiving

Even as I write you this on the most American of holidays, I know today is filled with sadness mixed with thanksgiving.  There is much that you and I have to be thankful for.  We have food on the table.  There are people in our lives that love us.  We are part of a community. 
Yet in the midst of what is good there are heartaches.  Pain, anguish, and difficulties strike anyone and everyone with free will.  A sense of what might be or at least what should haunts my soul.  I find myself remember people that are no longer here.  Not that I always remembered them when they were here, but now that they are gone I realize what I treasured and will truly miss.  I find myself reflecting on lost opportunities, past and present, wondering if there was something I could have done better that would have allowed things to be different than what they are. 
As I reflect, in peaceful tears more than in any other state, I know that this “means that we're a far cry from fair dealing, and we're not even close to right living.  We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but stumble through the night.”  (Isaiah 59.9)  There is much at stake and it is so easy to get, be, and stay lost.
As heavy as this load is, there is a far bigger context to it all than I can see in the moment.  You and I have a God that loves us without reservation or condition.  We are children of God, just as we are!  We are ambassadors of compassion, mercy, and love.  We have been given the work of Divinity.  In the midst of this war with evil, we have people that love us.  We are holding onto Hope.  We do know the meaning of love.
We are living in an incredible storm.  It is important to cry when tears are the answer.  It is also important to remember everything God and Divinity's children are doing in and for our life.