Thanksgiving Isn’t Always Easy
Know this, my beloved: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:9)
Thanksgiving weekend was tough for my family. Pneumonia, Covid, and other nasty illnesses had our extended Thanksgiving gathering and dinner canceled. The second morning after Thanksgiving, our daughter and one of our grandchildren ended up in Urgent Care. My wife and I wavered between fearing our family’s diseases and wanting to provide care. As of this writing, I am not sick, so providing care was the right decision.
While providing care to my family, I realized the best medicine I could provide was often my silence. Let the sick ones sleep and try to keep the healthy ones quiet so that the sick ones can recuperate. In his article “On Living the Quiet Life,” Scott Mayer reminds us that lowering the volume is often a healthy choice. Mayer affirms, “Living the quiet life is speaking less because you’re listening more. Through listening you learn. Through learning you grow.” Jill and I played with the grandsons, listening for when they had the energy and when cuddling and resting was the best medicine.
Caring for small children is tough because listening is challenging. You can hear but lack understanding. The little ones share and express frustration when their loving adults fail to understand. Mayer continues, “Living the quiet life is not doing less. Living the quiet life is avoiding distraction.” Sometimes the grandkids can feel like a distraction when I have work to do, and they want to play Bear Hunt. This Thanksgiving, anything other than listening to how we could help was the distraction. Being able to focus on meeting their needs was meaningful.
Today, think about times in your life when you had to drop other responsibilities and focus solely on listening and meeting the needs of others. Whether you meet your loved ones’ needs isn’t as important as whether you hear them in a way they know you care. For example, we couldn’t fix our daughter’s pneumonia, but Jill and I could listen to what she needed and respond accordingly. Sometimes it was as simple as providing a glass of water. Other times it required 101 games of Bear Hunt. The more you listen and care, the more God will provide opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.