I love November. The fall colors are at their peak, there is a cool, crisp quality to the air, and there is a slowed down awareness and appreciation that makes me more mindful of every moment.
We all tend to grumble a bit when the seasons change. It gets dark earlier, the temperatures drop, and I’m ready for pajama pants by 5:00pm. But the change of seasons actually gives me hope. Even as November makes me brace myself for winter a bit, I still recognize that the cold, dreary days will eventually give way to warmth, light, and new life springing forth. Perhaps the dormant time of waiting helps us pay attention to things we didn’t notice before. We naturally seem to slow down, hibernate a bit, and perhaps reflect on what’s really important.
Truly, the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls Day that kick off November help us do just that. All Saints Day encourages us to celebrate those who have showed us how to live, and All Souls Day reminds us that they are still with us, even after death. (Indeed, the funeral liturgy reassures us that life is “changed, not ended”). We live in a culture that is not comfortable with death, so we rarely talk about it, and yet, it’s the one thing we are ALL guaranteed. It is so important to keep the memory and spirit of deceased loved ones with us, animating our lives in ways big and small.
The church I work for celebrates an annual Mass of Remembrance, where we light memorial candles for all those who have died in the last year, and celebrate the promise of Resurrection. It is a beautiful and moving way to acknowledge the losses in our lives and then carry them with us as we move forward.
We also make a table available in the church throughout the month of November for people to bring in photos of those they have loved and lost. They can add those names to the Book of the Dead, and hopefully, find reassurance in the knowledge that their loved one is not forgotten. These are the things that make me appreciate November so much: we intentionally slow down and remember.
For me personally, there is also much to celebrate this month. In particular, I celebrate the birthdays of my mom and my husband, both of which fall in the same week. Their birthdays remind me of the tremendous blessings I have known because of who raised me, and who I am now building a life with. They are each indispensable rocks in my life, and truly, they deserve to be celebrated EVERY day!
The pinnacle of this precious month is just around the corner. I call it my favorite four days of the year: Thanksgiving weekend. We go to my parents’ home in St. Louis to feast with them and extended family. We bake Christmas cookies all day on Friday, and then put up their tree on Saturday (which features every ornament they’ve ever been given; including the sequined Styrofoam ball I made during my one year of Girls Scouts!) We top this all off with watching National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”, eating leftover pumpkin pie and those fresh baked Christmas cookies!
Thanksgiving is hands down, my favorite holiday of the entire year, because it is about acknowledging that we not only have enough, but indeed, we have plenty, and so we bask in gratitude for that. There is no pressure to buy the perfect present, host/attend a bajillion parties, or decorate the house like it’s going to be featured on a magazine cover. In my family, we eat, talk, play games and repeat. Thanksgiving is simply the gift of being together and acknowledging all that is, instead of making a list of what we think we want.
As I unpacked this theme of gratitude with the parents in our church last Sunday morning, I shared the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers; only one of whom returns to give thanks. As we talked that morning, it hit me that a healed leper has quite obvious reasons to be grateful. But my favorite passage in all of Scripture, which is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray continually and in all circumstances, give thanks”, challenges us to a deeper level of gratitude.
In ALL circumstances: if you aren’t healed. If you lose your job. If a loved one is suffering from addiction. If you’re struggling in a relationship.
What is there to be grateful for in those circumstances? We all have to answer that question for ourselves, but I think the one thing we can all agree on is that giving thanks is key to living through such circumstances.
The alternative is to complain and be taken captive by bitterness, and that’s no way to live.
So at Thanksgiving and beyond:
Rejoice always.
Pray continually.
And in all circumstances, give thanks.
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