It seems like five years is a good benchmark. This specific amount of time is seemingly a sweet spot. You can look back on something without fresh emotion influencing your evaluation nor the passage of too many days clouding it.

As I reflect on this Thanksgiving morning, I can’t help but think of the peak of the COVID pandemic five years ago. As the virus brought unimaginable negative impacts, many people weren’t in a celebratory mood. My blog post from November 25, 2020, titled “A Subdued Thanksgiving,” sums up the pulse of the country at that time. As people were told not to gather it goes without saying that Thanksgiving 2020 wasn’t a banner holiday for many.

So today a portion of my thankfulness is devoted to the fact that there isn’t a pandemic raging right now. People aren’t dying at a terrifying clip. We can freely gather with our families and eat, talk, and sing without restriction.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Seriously, just take a couple moments to reflect on what you were doing five years ago today. And then be thankful.

To end on a positive note, I want to share a Thanksgiving prayer my family has said for the past 7-8 years:

Good and gracious God. You do all things well. You make the sun and rain come, nurturing the earth, making it fertile and fruitful. Through Your gift of creation and the work of our hands, we reap an abundant harvest. We give You thanks for Your many gifts that sustain us; for health and home, dignified labor; for family, friends, neighbors, and those whom today we may still consider enemies. As we reflect in thanks this day, may we remember those who lack something we have. May our gratitude move us to love, serve, and give. Together we rejoice in Your gifts, and in Your abundant life! Amen.

Yep, when it comes to Thanksgiving 2025, I think it is pretty simple: rejoice and be thankful! Don’t Blink.