Snoopy’s Thanksgiving Lesson

The smell of a roasting turkey was filling Charlie Brown’s house. Snoopy lay outside on top of his doghouse, smelling the aroma, thinking, “It’s Thanksgiving Day. Everybody eats turkey on Thanksgiving Day.” But he just lay there, patiently watching the back door, awaiting Charlie Brown’s kindness, awaiting Thanksgiving dinner. At last, the door opened and Charlie arrived with a bowl. What’s in it? Dog food. Charlie Brown plunked it on the ground and left. Snoopy jumped down from his house and stared at the dog food with a dejected expression. He thought, “Just because I’m a dog, I have to eat dog food on Thanksgiving Day.” But in the next square of the cartoon, he looks at the dog food more intently, and his expression changes. “It could be worse,” he says. “I could be the turkey.”

On Thanksgiving Day there is plenty of turkey at our house. We count our blessings, then lie around on the floor holding our stomachs nursing a pumpkin pie hangover, wondering how we ever go outside and play football. But somehow, we manage. We call it the CATDOG game, the Callaway Annual Thanksgiving Day Oldtimers Game. I am happy to report I’m still able to keep up with the young ‘uns. For much of the first quarter anyway.

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection on what we are grateful for, but for some of us it’s a reminder that things could be a lot better. Our car is showing its age and our faces are too. Oh sure, we know that so many have it much worse than we, but maybe today you find yourself thinking about those who don’t. Like the neighbour whose marriage seems perfect, whose kids are so well-behaved and love to go to church with him each Sunday. Maybe it’s the friend with the ideal job, the one fortune smiled upon while frowning on you. Such a perspective offers charter membership in the fellowship of the perpetually crabby. And the cure is in one of the toughest verses in the Bible, Romans 12:15. It says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” Doh!

I am just scratching the surface of rejoicing with those who rejoice. But the alternatives are discontent, envy, whining and in the end, hollowness and broken relationships. Simon Cowell is worth over $550 million, but he told Rolling Stone magazine it’s not enough.

Are you comparing yourself with others? It will steal your joy.

So how do we leave comparison corner in the dust? Here’s how. Flick your left eyebrow with your right index finger. Come on. Do this. And say, “Stop it!” Stop looking at others. Her hairdo sure beats mine. I wish I could wear that dress! Stop it. Envy scratches nothing that itches. The moment we look to others, the grousing begins. The moment we look to God, the gratitude begins. He alone says, “I have what you really need, and I’ll give it to you.”

Eight-year-old Christina had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said, “I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!” Let’s offer up this simple prayer today: Father, in a world where so many are hungry, we thank you for food. Where so many are lonely, we thank you for friends. Where many are without hope, we thank you for Jesus, God’s Son. Amen.