The glue that holds it all together

What do I especially thank God for this Thanksgiving? Well, let me tell you.

Do the responsibilities and commitments of life sometimes feel like a house of cards? I start feeling that way every November. It seems that one recurring reality of my life is that autumn gets extremely busy. The job. My school work. The boys’ sports activities. Events and responsibilities at church. Kids getting sick. Meetings for this. Meetings for that. By this time of year, I start feeling a little overwhelmed. It seems every second of every day is accounted for, and there seems to be so much I need to accomplish that I just don’t get around to doing.

All of these pressures are perched precariously on top of one another like the proverbial house of cards. It seems that with just one nudge of the table, one gust of wind from an open door— and poof!—the delicately balanced cards will collapse to the ground. During these extremely busy times in life it seems like there is little room for error. One accident, one unplanned event, or one missed responsibility could have a seriously negative domino effect.

But what if that house of cards was glued together? Glued together really well? So well that when the table is nudged, or the wind blows, the house doesn’t fall apart? It doesn’t break. It withstands the strain.

I often refer to my wife as “the glue that holds it all together” in our household. And I’m not exaggerating. (I know it’s not a very romantic analogy, likening my wife to glue. I’ll do better in my Valentine’s Day entry, I promise.) But what I mean is this. There are a thousand, and I mean a thousand, little things that she does that keeps the Quackenblog house of cards standing.

I’m not just talking about cooking, cleaning, and making lunches. She does all that (while holding down a teaching job). But she also takes care of so many things, down to the smallest details of our life that I take for granted. Somehow she knows where everything is supposed to be. Not me. Whenever I empty the dishwasher, I always make a small “I-don’t-know-where-it-goes” pile (endearing, huh?). Somehow she knows where we are all supposed to be (and why). I pretty much forget stuff pertaining to the daily and weekly grind, even when I write it down. But she keeps us all moving in the right direction.

But after she does all of those thousand “little” things, she somehow has the time to spend quality time with me and the boys. She is my closest friend, and I cherish talking to her and confiding in her every day. And I cherish and appreciate the quality time that she spends teaching and raising our boys, setting an example of what a Godly woman is.

The term “Proverbs 31 woman” gets tossed around a lot, but I can’t think of a better description for my wife.

Anyway, thanks to all for reading my blog, and have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be goofing off visiting family and going to my reunion this weekend, so I will resume blogging on the Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine on the 30th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful “for” and thankful “to”

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is once again time to be especially mindful and thankful for all that we have. Our safety and health. The safety and health of our family. The material blessings that we enjoy. Plenty of food. A job. The list goes on and on, and we are right to be thankful for all that we have. The word “thankful” sort of implies that we have things to be thankful for.

But it seems to me that the word “thankful” also implies that there is someone to be thankful to. If we are merely thankful for something, but not thankful to the one who provides it, then what’s the point in being thankful in the first place? You might as well just save your breath. For instance, it is right for me to be thankful for the clean socks that appear in my drawer every week. But they don’t just materialize out of thin air, nor are they delivered by the sock fairy. I am thankful to my wife for all of the little things she does to take care of me. I am thankful for something, and thankful to someone.

In my view, we all tend to be fairly good at knowing that we should be thankful for our blessings at Thanksgiving. But who are we supposed to be thankful to at Thanksgiving?

To help answer this question, I thought I would re-print the words of someone that I respect a great deal. This is called “Thanksgiving Proclamation.”

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness”:

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A. D. 1789

George Washington

It is my opinion that every American should read this proclamation every year during the Thanksgiving season.