EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Nov. 24, 2023.
By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks
My hope is that by this time your belly is filled with turkey and the trimmings, your head filled with your loved one’s stories and your heart is filled with gratitude at the good fortune in your life.
However, if you find yourself in a place of healing, longing or aching, for whatever reason this Thanksgiving, I pray you feel the Holy Spirit’s peaceful and loving presence.
The holidays can cause a particular grief that can feel as if the forces of this world are crushing in from all sides. And I do feel some of that this year, as our family faces its first holidays without our mother.
So, if you find yourself where this Thanksgiving is less joy and more grief, I pray you will reach out to someone, be it a friend, loved one or even a professional. While grief is no picnic, the encouraging news is that we don’t have to do grief alone.
As our family navigates its first holidays without Mom, I’m attempting to focus not on how much I miss her, and how she won’t be at the Thanksgiving table to tell my wife that her cooking is “funny,” … to all of the things for which I am grateful.
First, I am grateful for the additional 18 months we had Mom in our lives. After her initial cancer diagnosis, it was suggested she’d live for only weeks. Instead, she fought like a bear cat for another year and a half. I will be forever grateful for those extra days.
Second, I am grateful for the great big group of siblings I still have around me to help navigate this new world. Our losses as a family have stacked up in recent years, and yet for the seven of us -- and a sister-in-law -- still living, we are closer than we’ve been all my life. It is a genuine blessing.
Finally, I’m grateful for the everyday moments with my family -- furry ones included -- who enrich my life so much. Whether it’s an expected call from one of the older boys, a belly laugh with one of my daughters, my wife cracking an inside joke just between us, or one of the four lovable dogs and cats that complete our home, my life is better for all of them. I know it in my heart.
And in those moments when the heaviness of everyday life threatens to pull me into despair, it is that lovable, wacky, irreplaceable bunch that reminds me that despite all the challenges of this world, there still are plenty of God’s blessings that bring me joy.
This Thanksgiving, I pray you find it possible to remember those things for which you are most grateful, even if they only bring you the tiniest glimmers of hope. After all, it is hope on which our faith is built!
Happy Thanksgiving to all! You each are a blessing to me!
Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He also works for Forum Communications Co. He can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com or comments and story ideas.
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