As I write this I am sitting in my recliner and staring out my living room window. It is my last day of quarantine - and I desperately want it to be over. If I could make time go faster, oh, I would.

But, alas, I cannot.

You see quarantining for two weeks has been a little trying. Oh it was great at first. I was feeling ill and I got to relax. Get plenty of sleeping done. Then, as I started to feel better, I had time for chores around the house that have been nagging at me. I raked my lawn, swept up the driveway, cleaned my gutters; I even mowed one last time. I thought, ‘this is great! The Lord’s giving me a chance to de-stress and do some manual labor. This quarantine thing is fantastic!”

But that was six days ago.

The chores are long done now. I’ve watched all the TV I can stomach and then some. I even started trying to sketch things in the backyard in a notebook (yes, seriously). I haven’t been this bored in a looooonnnngggg time. If I could make time go faster, oh, I would. I can’t wait for quarantine to be over - I am going to burst into the office tomorrow with all the exuberance of an eight year old riding their brand new ten speed.

But isn’t this always true of how we view the days God gives us? We’re either too busy or too bored. Either time is going too fast or way too slow. Either we can’t wait for something to get started (vacation, dinner, the weekly episode of our favorite show) or we desperately want it to end so we can get back to normal (I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed, everyone’s fighting around the dinner table, man that episode stunk). All too often we want time to speed up or slow back down, we want things to be busy or to calm back down. We want things to return to normal - or, when we’re sick of normal, we want them a bit crazier.

But dear friends, as we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving - don’t worry about trying to make things too perfect. Granted, this will be a little different kind of Thanksgiving. Many of us may not be able to see the family and friends we normally see at this time of year. It won't be the same, and I’ll bet many of us will want it over soon (like this entire year!). But instead of wishing for time to go faster, let’s be thankful for the time God gives us. For the food he gives us. For the moments together he gives us. For the Son he gave us. Dear friends, let us give thanks joyfully this Thanksgiving - precisely because it is a little. Precisely because so many in this world think there’s no reason to give thanks this year.

As Christians, we know better.

May God grant you all a joyful and joy filled Thanksgiving.

And trust me - I can’t wait to see you again!

 

Pastor Joshua Zarling