Be careful, be very, very careful!  Before you know it, you may find yourself caught in an airport somewhere or stranded in traffic trying to get to Thanksgiving Dinner.  With one eye on the car in front of you and the other on the melting dessert in the backseat, you search the radio for some Thanksgiving music to help relieve the pressure in your chest and put you in the spirit of the day, only to find there is no such thing as Thanksgiving music!  OK, if you’re like me you may be reaching out to ChatGPT right now to find out if this is really true.  It isn’t, but there are very few, and they aren’t on the radio anyway. 

But once you arrive at your destination there are even greater perils awaiting you, Uncle Ned being one of them.  How can it be possible that someone can have halitosis their whole life and never know it? And your brother-in-law, Daren, whose never entered a kitchen…that you know of. And then there’s your least favorite sister, who’s always on time, which is irritating in itself, but then she completely fills the refrigerator with every magnificent culinary delight she knows, leaving you with NO room for your tilted oozing cranberry Jell-o Salad.  So yet again, you set your own modest contribution out on the railing of the back porch, letting nature be your cooler. 

The biggest peril is yet to manifest itself.   

The oven has been working overtime, heating everything that needs to be hot.  The kitchen counters are now filled with great smelling bounty, and you’ve rescued your cranberry Jell-o Salad from the inquiring squirrels on the back porch.  The mayhem of preparation is about to be replaced by mayhem of the famished who are assembling in the tight-fitting dining room.  Extra chairs have been brought in to accommodate the adults, and the kids’ table is set in the living room.  The long-awaited words are being voiced, “i-t-s  r-e-a-d-y!” And you’re off!  The male adults magically appear at the table, and the children have been at their places for 10 minutes now.  The hospitality committee, Uncle Ned’s wife, Aunt Martha, yourself, and all the other adult women present, begin the presentations that fill the room with smells and sighs of remembrance and anticipation. 

Uncle Ned indicates that he’s ready to ask the blessing and calls go out to the members of the hospitality committee who are still in the kitchen, “Uncle Ned’s ready to pray!”  The women scurry into the dining room, hands being wiped on aprons and one or two left standing with bowed heads. 

Just as Uncle Ned, says, “Let’s give thanks…” a small voice from the kids table begins to sing: 

“Now thank we all our God,1 

With heart and hands and voices, 

Who Wondrous things hath done, 

In whom this world rejoices; 

Who, from our mothers’ arms, 

Hath blessed us on our way 

With countless gifts of love, 

And still is ours today.” 

Uncle Ned, raising his head, now begins to sing, in a beautiful baritone voice that you never knew existed: 

“O may this bounteous God 

Through all our life be near us, 

With ever joyful hearts 

And blessed peace to cheer us; 

And keep us in His grace, 

And guide us when perplexed; 

And free us from all ills 

In this world and the next.” 

The room is silent, except for some soft sobbing, and you suddenly realize it’s you. The piercing perils of the Spirit of the Lord have made their way into your hurried heart. And suddenly you are filled with love for all who are gathered and you’re happy to be here…again.