In my office sits a cactus. This cactus once belonged to a well-respected man that passed away about three years ago. When this cactus was given to us here at ATLAS, it was with a sense of great humility (and the burden of not letting the cactus die...not so easy for someone who stinks at keeping plants alive).
Two or three times a year it blooms. It is a beautiful flower that comes. However, it almost always blooms this time of year - when the weather turns cold, the days get shorter and darkness sets in, and all the plants and leaves are dying and falling outside - this plant blooms. It blooms right around the time of Thanksgiving.
I think sometimes life can be like that. When things around us are difficult, when light seems to get dim, perhaps when our hopes are falling and dying like the leaves around us - what is it that will sustain us? What is it that will allow us to come alive when things seem bleak? Perhaps we need to embrace the season of our lives that we can't change right now. Perhaps we can be grateful for the little victories. Perhaps we can be grateful for just one more day of being sober. Let's be truly thankful, get our eyes off of only what's going wrong, and recognize the beauty in the life around us and the life within us.
