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Strange how the mind works. For no apparent reason, my mind went to the Periodic Table this morning. You know, the one that arranges chemical elements by their atomic numbers and such.
Honestly, I never had much of a scientific mind. My interest in it barely went past the chemistry set I asked for and got one long ago Christmas. My failed experiments with that thing might have been the first sign that I was, in fact, chemically imbalanced.
That is neither here nor there.
Today, though we are past Thanksgiving proper, I find it proper to give thanks…for the Periodic Table. I mean that both literally and…well, literally.
The Periodic Table with its logical arrangement of the basic elements comprising our Universe reminds us that this life we live and planet upon which we live it is not the product of chance. Like everything these chemicals conspire to comprise—from majestic mountains to babbling brooks, from dancing deer to bouncing babies—the Periodic Table speaks of order and intelligence.
It speaks of God.
So does the other periodic table so many of us enjoy each year.
This Thanksgiving just past, Donya and I found ourselves alone with our children and Holly’s fiance, Edward. It was a little weird not having Mom and my siblings or Donya’s parents and siblings present. A little weird. A little sad. But it provided an opportunity for our nuclear family to connect and reflect on the blessings given us by our great God.
That periodic table, the table of thanks, first observed by pilgrims frazzled by the harshness of a strange new world and its unforgiving winter, is the place for thanksgiving. I find, however, that it is also an object of thanksgiving.
How grateful I am to live ina society, a country, established and built by people devoted to the God of the bible, the God of the universe. How thankful I am that they left for us an example and a set opportunity each year to pause and remember…and say thanks.
Whatever hardships the year may have brought, whatever struggles and losses and friction and pain, that November Thursday throws up its hand and commands we stop! Forget your troubles. Forgive your enemies. Remember your blessings. Assemble your family. Clear your mind. Calm your spirit. Bow your head!
And thank the God of the Periodic Table at the periodic table for the periodic table. Thank Him that He makes it all make sense.
