Thanksgiving is almost here, and for my family that can mean only one thing: Birthday cake!

You see, my mother and I have the same birthday. And some years we come dangerously close to sharing our celebration with a third – the Thanksgiving turkey! Because our extended family is so busy and we all live so far apart, whenever we get together for Thanksgiving, we also have a little birthday celebration on the side.

But it is Thanksgiving, and not my birthday, that I really look forward to. Not just because of the food, but because it forces me to be more thankful.

photo by KaCey97007

We are supposed to have an “attitude of gratitude” for all of our blessings, but admittedly I am not always so mindful of this. I have been blessed with so many things in my life, I begin to take them for granted. I forget that just as easily as they come into my life, they can also be taken away. Like the light atop a birthday candle. One minute it is flickering and bobbing above the candle, so full of vibrancy and life, and the next minute there is nothing left of it but slow moving tendrils of smoke, swirling and grasping for the light and life that was there just moments before.

When I watch each candle sink into the cake, I remind myself of each year of my life that has passed. And every year, I fear, it is more of the same: too much leisure, too little money saved, and too late to be charitable. Yet those failures are opportunities for me to learn from, to help me see where I can let Him really shine through me in the future.

As the birthday candles are lit, I remind myself of the times that I had passed His light on to others. Like that candle for year 24 when I made an all-important decision for life. The candle for year 32 when we decided to homeschool. The candle lit for the year I was able to help usher my father to see Our Lord face to face. And this year’s candle representing the blessings that came with my mother who recently moved in with us.

Yes. Each candle represents so many things I have to be profoundly thankful for – for either the light I have passed on to others or the lights I have received.

Each year, I try to take Blessed Solanus Casey’s approach to life. To always thank God in advance for His blessings, because whatever He gives us is for our own good. It is easy to see His hand in the joyous moments: the birth of a baby, or a miraculous conversion of heart. But it is sometimes harder to see His loving hand in our crosses: temporal punishments and chastisements for our willful mistakes, the sickness or death of a loved one, or tragedies throughout the world. Can there be something to be thankful for in those?

Absolutely! For Proverbs 3:11 – 12 says “My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou are chastised by him: for whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth…” And through our suffering we must remember Philippians 1: 29: “For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”
To receive chastisement for our sins or imperfections as a means of sanctification is truly a blessing.

And through all that we suffer in life, there is an opportunity to give back to Christ a portion of the love He has given to us. Truly, even in our darkest times, there are those flickering lights, leading us closer to Him. And I am thankful. Thankful that He loves me enough to be an ever present light in my life. Thankful for the chances He has given me to fulfill His will and inflame another soul for love of Him. And I am most grateful for all the other flames that have kindled my own, bringing me closer to Him as well.

This Thanksgiving, begin a new tradition before you eat. Turn off the lights. Give everyone a candle and light your own and then tell a personal cross you are thankful for and what blessings have come from it. Turn to the person next to you, light their candle and encourage him or her to share a cross and express their gratitude for God’s gifts hidden within their troubles. Keep going until everyone’s candle is lit, basking in the glow of the Father’s love.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner by this radiant light; illuminating your hearts with the things with which God has blessed you all. And when the meal is through, instead of making a wish and blowing out each candle, ask everyone to do as Blessed Solanus Casey did and thank God in advance for all the blessings He will send your way during the upcoming year.

Cassandra Poppe is eternally thankful for the opportunity to homeschool her 5 children on their homestead in Oklahoma. She has written for several Catholic publications, blogs and teams up with her husband to give talks on parenting, prayer and living the Catholic faith.

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