There are many gifts we are given in this life and one of the greatest, and most precious, is time. We can go back in time through our memory, and go forward in our imagination. But the only time we really have is the present moment. We learn (hopefully) from the past and prepare ourselves for the future as best we can. I think one of the most serious sins we can commit is to waste time. That’s not to say we must be in perpetual motion or that there is something wrong with relaxation. Those are important ways to spend time as they help recharge our batteries.

One of the ways we waste time is to try to skip over it. That happens in an especially egregious way in the run up to Christmas. It used to be that the anticipation of Christmas started the day after Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with anticipating good things. In fact, the Church has enshrined anticipation in two important seasons — Advent prepares us for Christmas and Lent readies us for Easter.

Now Christmas begins so early! Right after Halloween, the decoration started popping up (some stores even sooner!). But if we’ve jumped from Halloween to Christmas, we’ve deprived ourselves of one of the great joys of life — taking time for gratitude. Our country has consecrated Thanksgiving Day as an opportunity to stop and count all our blessings and give thanks. What a brilliant idea!

Wouldn’t it be great if we took some time prior to Thanksgiving to really prepare for it? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we took some time to reflect on our gifts, rather than spend too much time worrying about the turkey?

Maybe too much of November has passed but we have eleven beautiful days remaining. Why not use it showing our gratitude to God and other people in our lives?