Thankful
Today is the last Sunday in Pentecost, and it is the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
Thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. - Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
In the reading from Ezekiel, God takes a stand for his people, promising to go and gather them up from where they have been scattered and bring them to a place where they will be safe.
In a way, all of us this year are like scattered sheep. We are not able to gather together with our families and friends this Thanksgiving, and that could make us sad.
We may feel there is nothing to be thankful for.
God wants us to know He is out there looking for us, searching to bring us home, so we can all be together.
It is not just a figurative statement. He came in the form of His son, and remains with us in the form of the Holy Spirit, just so we will never be alone.
So, we have a lot to be thankful for, and though we may not be physically close to those we love, they are in our hearts and on our minds.
Let us focus not on what we lack but on what we have. And be thankful.
More to come...