I hope you all enjoy a marvelous Thanksgiving today with your family. Here’s something to keep in mind as you count your blessings. There are a lot of people out there who aren’t going to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving. They may not have anybody to eat with — or they may have to work.

When I was growing up, we always ate a big Thanksgiving lunch at my grandmother’s house in south Georgia. But the tradition changed a few years ago, and now we go to my mom’s house. This is the way she is: we’ve never eaten Thanksgiving with just my family. We’ve always had a few extra guests — people Mom thinks would enjoy a meal with us. For example, she’s invited single people who don’t live near family.

There are also a lot of people in the world who can’t afford to take off work to enjoy Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I ran into a local convenience store to pay for my gas and get a gallon of milk. A nice Indian family owns this business, and the man always smiles at me and asks how I’m doing.

So, yesterday I asked him, “Will you be off tomorrow for Thanksgiving?”

“Oh, no, no,” he said. “I must work tomorrow. I work every day, seven days a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.”

“How do you do that?” I asked him. “Don’t you ever get a break?”

“This is not bad. This is nothing,” he said to me. Then he stopped ringing up my sale and looked me in the eye. “I used to work day shift here, then I went to a factory and worked all night. I did that for 12 years. I worked 22 hours a day for 12 years.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“I did this so I could save money,” he continued. “Then I bought this shop here. Now I can have money for my two children.”

Now there’s a story. How can anyone do that? Work 22 hours a day for 12 years? What keeps him going? What makes him get up in the morning to work that hard? And how does he always have a smile on his face?

People like him fascinate me. Amaze me. I’m going to start asking some questions the next time I stop in because someday I’d like to write a story about him. I want to know what helps him persevere. What kind of life did he leave behind to move here? I think he keeps going because he sees a brighter future for his children — this is the American Dream.

Say a prayer for him today, and for those like him — as you’re eating lunch. He and many others will be doing the same old thing — alone.

God bless you all this Thanksgiving! Here’s a wonderful hymn you can click and listen to. Maybe you could even read or sing this out loud at a family gathering:

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on earth and friends above;
For all gentle thoughts and mild:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
…….
For Thyself, best gift divine,
To our race so freely given;
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in heaven:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.