Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s the calm after the storm of the Thanksgiving celebration, and this morning I’ve been savoring the memories of one more year of celebration with my loved ones and friends. Only half of my tribe made it to the farm for Thanksgiving this year, but they’ll be in town soon enough for a different kind of celebration and I’m counting the days until we’re all together again. As surely as the seasons around me change, the seasons of life do too, and no amount of wishing can change the course. So I roll-with-the-flow of my life and I give thanks through it all. Isn’t that the way you look at life too?

It would be so easy to look around the holiday table and to focus more on who’s NOT there than who IS there. Sometimes death leaves an empty seat and sometimes conflict takes priority over peace. Sometimes people move far away and sometimes they opt for different plans at a different table. But no matter how many empty seats there may be at the table, it’s the fullness in the heart that matters most of all. Though I miss my loved ones that have passed on from this life, I don’t light a candle or hold a memorial service in their honor. Instead I keep them alive in my heart and I speak of them often and there is always a great story about them that comes to mind to share…holidays or not. They haven’t “left” us…they’ve moved on to the Biggest part of our Purpose and I know that one day we’ll have the greatest Celebration of all.

It would be so easy to focus more on the conflicts that can keep us apart than all of the reasons we have to be together; but conflict is often the cause for of a lot of empty seats around the table. Sometimes separation is in order for good reason, but most of the time it’s a hard heart and a refusal to forgive that drives one out of the seat at the table and it’s a selfish heart that refuses to make its peace. There are plenty of people worthy of an Academy Award that can somehow set aside their battles just for the sake of the festivities, and you’d never know what’s working behind the scenes just by what you see played out at the table. Image is more important to them than genuine peace and they can fool themselves through a holiday anytime for the sake of what things “look like” to others. On the other hand, lots of people put way too much emphasis on gathering together “for the holidays” as if joining together just for the holidays paints a picture of relationship and love. But gathering together JUST for the sake of a holiday celebration is nothing more than food and drink if the relationship isn’t there all year long too. It’s the fullness of the heart that matters the most and it’s working to have a healthy family and healthy relationships all year long that lead to the fullest tables.

My table may not have been as full as it usually is, but the fullness of heart fills up the empty feeling. There is peace in my family because we wouldn’t have it any other way. If conflict arises; it is handled in Christ-like fashion and forgiveness flows through our veins. We may not be forever joined-at-the-hip but our hearts are, and it’s the fullness of the heart that matters the most.

How about you?