By Garrett Vickrey
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for moustaches. Or to be more precise. I am thankful that I am not growing a moustache at this time.
This past Sunday in worship we celebrated all the things that we are thankful for and thanked God for the many blessings in our lives. At the Thanksgiving Dinner last Wednesday everyone wrote down things that they are thankful for on orange and yellow die-cut leaves. Sunday morning our “thankful-leaves” were displayed on our Thanksgiving Tree in the sanctuary.
On one particular orange leaf someone had written that they were thankful for moustaches. And the leaf even had a moustache drawn on it. This reminded me that this Thanksgiving I am thankful to not have a moustache.
Unlike one of my mentors who, upon graduating from seminary and accepting his first pastorate, grew a moustache to look older and more sophisticated. I have not done so. I have committed to the clean shaven, baby faced look for better or worse. Probably worse since I’m a pastor, and most examples of leaders in the bible had significant beards! Facial hair seems to be biblical.
I tried a moustache for a few years. It was for a cause. For two consecutive Novembers I participated in “MOVEMBER” (see more here:http://us.movember.com). Movember is a movement sweeping the nation where men grow moustaches to raise money and awareness for men’s health. My Movember team, “The Holy Mo’s”, raised money for researching prostate cancer.
It was a good cause and a lot of fun. But, my moustache was itchy and it looked terrible. It was patchy (to say the least), and I spent most of the month looking like I was trying to grow a moustache as opposed to actually having a moustache. Did I mention it was itchy?
What in your life are you thankful to have “shaved off” or let go of? We have to start somewhere in giving thanks. Start small. Give thanks for moustaches or shaved moustaches. Give thanks for phases of life you’ve grown out of. Give thanks for reminders of how God has been with you in the past. Give thanks for a day when your knee doesn’t hurt. Find a way to start giving thanks.
Grateful living is healthy living. So even if you are stuffing yourself with turkey and (well…) stuffing this Thanksgiving remember to give thanks. It won’t offset excess calories but it could lead to an excess of gratefulness. And that just might lighten your heart, and open you to receive more of the good gifts God wants to give us.
Donate to the Holy Mo’s Today at http://us.movember.com/