This is the first Thanksgiving morning in many years that I haven’t sat, in the wee hours, next to the glow of Christmas lights. Because of our daughter’s family living in Florida, they always came early in the month, when flights were cheaper, so I always had to be completely ready to open gifts before my Thanksgiving turkey had fully settled in my belly.

But not this year. No.

This year, my daughter, and her babies, will join her sister and us on Christmas Eve, after first doing Christmasy things with us all through the season because they live here now. There has been no rush to deck these halls, or send myself into a buying and wrapping frenzy, and because of that, Thanksgiving is getting its due. Thanksgiving has come in as a season of quiet contemplation, of taking stock…of humility.

There’s been a lot of change in our little family in 2015. Four of us started new jobs (including me, into Mimmie’s Daycare). One of us made a cross-country move with two kids in tow, and began life as a single parent. Those kids have been working through that adjustment, on top of starting new schools, and making new friends. It hasn’t all been easy, but the fruits of this new season have been abundant.

And that’s the thing. There is always fruit. Always.

You won’t see it, however, unless you are tending the ground that grows around the fruit tree. If the weeds of hardship and heartache aren’t addressed, they’ll grow, and quickly, becoming what seems an overwhelming task. They won’t allow you to see a single thing through them and they’ll become your new reality.

But.

If you address them as they pop up, you won’t miss the fruit when it comes, full and ripe. You won’t find it, later, laying on the ground, in a pile of what could have been. You will, instead, enjoy a harvest.

Take a walk around your fruit trees today. Pull a few weeds, fill your basket with fruit and go bake a pie. Then, when you’re sitting around a table full of those you love, share it, for there will always be more if you’re looking.

Always.

Happy Thanksgiving, to all of you who grace my life with your presence. You are a special part of my harvest.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV