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One of my favorite holiday recipes is from Mamaw Bell--Cranberry Fruit Salad. I don't know if that's what she called it—I'm not sure if it even had a name. But it has become one of those recipes that my sister and I must have at Thanksgiving, or else it wouldn't be Thanksgiving at all.

It's a very interesting recipe: cranberries run through a meat grinder and covered in sugar, grapes cut in half, cool whip, coconut, and pecans. Yummy.

But I must say, those pecans were a texture that had to be overcome. When I was really little, I would never eat the salad because of the pecans. As I got a little older, I would eat it, but pick out the pecans. I knew I had reached maturity when I ate the fruit salad, pecans and all, and loved every bite.

There's a spiritual truth in that Thanksgiving Salad, though you might not be able to see it.

When my sister and I are tempted to be discouraged or complain, we often play this little comparison/consolation game.
"At least we've got insurance."
"At least all the kids are healthy."
"At least one car runs."
"At least, we've got good husbands."

Maybe you've played this game too. It's an easy came to play, especially in America where life seems to revolve around health and wealth. You compare yourself to someone worse off than you in hopes of finding something for which to be thankful. At least you have a job. At least your house is nice. At least you have food to eat. But at some point that game has to end. At some point, there is no one worse off than you. At some point, you have to choose thanksgiving, no matter what is thrown into the mix.

Life is like that Thanksgiving Salad. You hate pecans, the problems that make it easy to be discontent, so you reject gratitude all together. Or, you might say "I don't have to be thankful for everything. I can pick and choose what to be thankful for." But, at some point, the salad of life might be nothing but pecans. Does that mean you don't eat it? Does that mean you don't need to be thankful? Does that mean you shouldn't be thankful for the bad things as well-- the bad things that often lead us straight to our Maker.

There's a column I read a few years ago that impacted me. The column asked the question: "If you had been there in 1621 - if you had seen half your friends die, if you had suffered through famine, malnutrition, and sickness, if you had endured a year of heartbreak and tragedy - would you have felt grateful?"

Would you have said with the Pilgrims, or with prisoner Paul that "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance" (Philippians 4:11)? In your life now, are you enjoying the whole salad, pecans and all? Are you choosing to be grateful, to be content, no matter what good things or bad things fill your life? Are you grateful for the Creator, and his presence, no matter what you have to eat during the meal?

I hope that on this Thanksgiving Day, we can all be "content with what [we] have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5).

The article I quoted was by Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Staff, 11/23/2000. http://www.homiliesbyemail.com/Special/Thanksgiving/power.txt

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - February 25 - March 1