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Saturday, November 26, 2011



{This is my family, and I like them a lot. My best friend took the picture. I like her a lot, too}

It's one o' clock in the morning and freezing. 3-blankets-and-tea-freezing. At least in my room, anyway.
As yesterday-or the day before yesterday, since technically it's Saturday- was Thanksgiving, I've been thinking quite a bit about thankfulness.
People are broken. Broken and torn up by sin, battling constantly-most the times on the verge of being just plain worn out. No amount of super glue, duct tape, or glossy varnish can hold us together or pretty up decay. Even if duct tape is a miracle-worker. Holiday's are funny things because they are generally harbingers of joy and delight and all manner of colored lights and yet, simultaneously, the harshest backdrop to the brokenness around us. I've never really understood why.
Thanksgiving then: a holiday set aside specifically for the purpose of gratitude. This is easy when presented with turkey and cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole. Also, Christmas (since as soon as Thanksgiving/s done I break out The Carpenter's Christmas, I might as well blog about it too): a holiday for remembering and celebrating the birth of Christ. Somewhat harder to do when surrounded by mounds of glitter-y wrapping, unless you remember the outlasting glitter of eternal glory with Christ. Two holidays: an entire month to be lost in enough sugar to rival a snow storm, in ribbons and tinsel and pine needles, in jingle bells and Christmas carols over-played in Macy's. Time spent forgetting instead of remembering.
Maybe this is only my experience, but sin always seems more apparent around the holidays. Maybe it's lack of sleep and lack of space on the calendar, or maybe it's because black is easier seen against the glow of the most wonderful time of year. Either way, I see it. This is how I remember.
I cannot be held together by glooey bits of tape or triple shots of espresso, as much as I wish and think I can during finals. I cannot be thankful only in the presence of a turkey. I cannot celebrate Jesus' birth only in the light of a Christmas tree.
I'm held together by grace. I need to be thankful in the gritty moments. I need to remember Jesus' birth because I sin. Because of all the brokenness in and around me, I have cause to celebrate. True cause, because I am free from it.
I told you I was thinking about thankfulness. I am thankful for remembering and God who reminds.

{Some other things I'm thankful for: friends and Crixia Cakes and Berkeley and Coldplay and my brother who is better with directions than I am}