A. M. Robertson “Grandma” Moses, Catchin’ The Turkey, 1955 Oil on pressed wood, Collection of Bennington Museum.

Thanksgiving asks something deeply human and quietly spiritual of us: to slow down and truly look again. Look with the kind of attention Chesterton meant when he said the world isn’t short on wonders—only on people who still notice them. And perhaps that is why we need a day like this, a day that teaches us to recover wonder by paying attention to the small mercies God hides in plain sight: a conversation that lifts an old weight, the steady presence of friends, a table that gathers what life has scattered, the tenderness that arrives exactly when our spirit is tired. Even the music of the season seems to participate in this gentle work; Bill Evans’ soft, slightly wistful piano lines—familiar to anyone who remembers the Peanuts Thanksgiving specials—don’t announce anything grand, but they open a quiet space inside the heart. In that space, God often whispers that “enough” is not a downgrade but a grace. So wherever this Thanksgiving finds you—surrounded by family, working, traveling, or resting in a solitude you didn’t expect—may gratitude calm your breath, steady your spirit, and allow the kind light of God to enter once more. Happy Thanksgiving! • AE