When you sit around the table...

When you sit around the table this Thanksgiving holiday...
Take a slow, lingering look.
Really see the people seated around.
Remember why it is that you love them.
And be thankful for the ways they touched your life.
You don't know what seats might be empty next year.

When you bow your heads, and hold hands
To breathe a prayer of thanks
Squeeze extra tight before letting go.
You never know which hands you will be left
longing for next year.

And, as you sit and laugh and talk
About happenings past and present
Store up in your heart
The joy of those simple moments.
They slip away so fast
And you are left only with memories.

And if a chair is empty this year
Breathe a prayer of thanks
That you remembered to soak in the moments,
Squeeze the hand you now long for
And love fully in all the moments that you had...
then.