We are entering November, the month in which we set aside time to take stock and to give thanks. The timing of our celebration of Thanksgiving is certainly partly due to the fact that it is at the end of our harvest season, the time when our "storehouses" are full and we have time to ponder all we've been blessed with before we hunker down for the winter. Or at least that would historically have been the reason for the timing. Many of us no longer have storehouses and winter is likely no longer greeted with a sense of needing to hunker down and endure hardship.

            In our day and in our current setting, food and goods needed for life are, for the most part, just as available in the winter as in the summer. And the need to "store up" and make sure we have enough for ourselves is rarely a concern. Therefore, whether or not we've had a good or poor harvest year is no longer a primary focus of Thanksgiving celebrations. Yes, we still decorate with pumpkins and corn shocks, but they are simply quaint symbols and decorations appropriate for the time of year. So what is the focus for our thanks-giving these days? What is it or should it be that we celebrate when we pause?

            Certainly it is still appropriate to give thanks for all our blessings, both physical and spiritual, and we are still dependent (whether we admit it or not) on God's grace for our sustained life. But rather than barely having enough to survive and being grateful for just making it through another year, many of us live with abundance, with more than we need to be comfortable even. So how does that affect our Thanksgiving thoughts? Has Thanksgiving become not much more than another Hallmark occasion? I hope not, but I wonder...

            I also wonder, what would happen if we all decided to give out of our excess to those around us in need. I know many of us already do, and I'm excited by that, but I wonder if we could find even more ways to be a blessing to those in need if we'd adjust the focus of our Thanksgiving observance. What could happen if instead of taking stock of what we have, we'd begin to take stock of what we've given to others in the past year. What if our thankfulness began to grow out of how many people God has enabled us to help recently? What if the "harvest" we were celebrating was those whose lives we had touched in significant ways that year? We'd still be acknowledging God and God's goodness, but we'd begin, I believe, to understand in a better way why God has been good to us. It is so we are then able to bless others and invite them to new and renewed life with God.

            How exciting it could be to see the harvest of changed lives that God has enabled us to take part in as we've reinvested our blessings into others. This kind of "planting" and harvest is possible for each and every one of us. We don't need to be rich; we just need to be willing to invest our time, talents, energy or encouragement into someone else's life. As we do so, I'm convinced God will continue to bless us with all we need, for ourselves and for others who need us.

            May we have the faith it takes to give out of our abundance and reserves into the needs of others. May we bless others out of our many blessings, and may God be praised and thanked as we learn to do so.

Pastor Carl