Photo By: April
It’s time to count our blessings! I’ll start by saying I am thankful for my family and friends and my health and my faith. That covers a lot of ground, so I’d like to focus on the family part of this.
Family comes in many forms: Immediate. Extended. Inherited. Created. Sometimes family is exactly what you make it. I realized that during a defining moment one Thanksgiving Day many years ago.
Susan and I moved to our neighborhood in the mid-1990s shortly after we married. Right away, I noticed an unusual old man who took his daily walks along our street. Summer or winter, he always wore a World War II leather bomber jacket. He was a little odd, and he reminded me of the character Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. He’d regularly ask me to change light bulbs in his house, and about once a month he’d “borrow” the morning newspaper from our driveway.
One Thanksgiving Day, just as my family was about to sit down to lunch, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find “Ol’ Man Johnson” (not his real name) standing there. He asked to come in and eat Thanksgiving lunch with us. He was not a great guest. He demanded that we remove our dog from the room. He even complained to Susan about the food. But we made him feel welcome.
Later that day, after he had gone home, we talked about the old man and realized we were seeing him in a new and different light. Before that day, he was a curiosity (and sometimes a nuisance). But that Thanksgiving, after sharing our meal with him, we began to feel differently about the old guy.
A Closer Look
We looked beyond his cranky, strange demeanor and simply saw a person who wanted to spend time with others on Thanksgiving—even if it meant showing up unannounced and inviting himself in. This man had needs, but he had nobody to meet those needs. Like all of us, he just wanted a friend; he wanted to belong. He wanted to feel like part of a family on a family-centered day.
I must add that two days after this first Thanksgiving with us, we received a lovely, handwritten note from him thanking us for sharing our day. He had beautiful penmanship; it was almost calligraphy-like in its perfection. Who would have thought?
So every year after that, we invited Mr. Johnson to our holiday feast, and he became part of our Thanksgiving family tradition.
Consider a New Tradition
As we approach the holiday, I invite you to look around. Chances are, you know someone who needs to be loved—even if he or she isn’t easy to love. I encourage you to reach out to that person in some way. Expand your idea of family this Thanksgiving. You’ll be thankful you did.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! We wish each and every one of you a healthy, happy and Spirit-filled holiday.