I spent this afternoon cooking with my wife in preparation for guests tomorrow for a family get-together on Thanksgiving Day. It was a very enjoyable time, a peaceful time of calm and relaxation while we cut and chopped and mixed and stirred.

Somewhere between the herb dinner rolls rising in the oven and the new Butter Pecan ice cream pumpkin pie recipe I was deciphering, I realized Thanksgiving Day had already begun. Preparing the feast was half the fun of having the feast.

Now I realize some people don’t have time to spend Wednesday afternoon cooking, and they are very grateful for someone else able to do the job. That’s quite understandable. But the larger lesson I dwelt on was seeing the event of Thanksgiving meal as much more than one hour spent at a table eating and talking with friends. It’s all the before, during and after that constitute the event. And each moment of the preparation, staging, happening, and clean up should be just as enjoyable as any other. There need be no strain or stress. It’s all about love, sharing love, participating in love and rejoicing in love. The preparation, the experience and the afterglow can all have equal goodness associated with them.

Life is not a destination, but a journey, I agreed. Jesus Christ was clear on living in the goodness of God now. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he preached. How close is your hand? It’s attached. It can’t be any closer.

The goodness of Life is not something we work toward, like a goal we have to reach. It’s a present fact of our being.

I hope you enjoy your journey as you celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Whether celebrating at-one with God at a table with your thoughts, or with many people around too, may your every moment be filled with love and peace.

Happy Thanksgiving!