Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, but my favorite part of Thanksgiving comes the night before.

My church has a gratitude service, where we pray a little, sing a little, listen a little. Then the parishioners are invited to stand up (before God and everyone!) to say a few words about what they are thankful for.

It gets me every time. Our thanks are so much the same and so different. People give thanks for things that you would expect – a husband coming through cancer treatment, a new baby – and things you wouldn’t – unexpected blessings and lessons wrought through loss and illness.

It’s good, to stand up front and declare what deserves thanks. It feels right to be part of this community of thanks-givers, of noticers. Being among them helps me notice, too.