Happy Thanksgiving from the Rabbit Room (2014)

By •

I’m writing from a porch swing at Shiloh, watching my brother Pete as he sifts through several boxes of his old keepsakes. Every now and then he calls his wife over to look at some ridiculous or awesome piece of his past. (Ridiculous = his unopened Star Wars action figures; awesome = an original reel of the Return of the Jedi trailer.) The turkey’s in the oven, the Macy’s Day parade is on, and the sheep are bleating in the pasture behind me. There’s some terrible stuff happening in the world right now—and some terrible stuff in your lives, I’m sure—but today is a day to direct our attention instead to all the good and beautiful things that undergird the broken parts, like an underpainting that refuses to be marred even as the artist touches and retouches the imperfections.

We wanted to share a few items for your perusal in case you check in before or after your post-feast nap.

Here’s a brand new live performance of “Don’t You Want to Thank Someone,” which we recorded at North Wind Manor. It features my pals Nate Dugger on keys, James Gregory on upright bass, and my son Asher on percussion.

Here’s a short, thoughtful piece by Zach Franzen about instilling a sense of gratitude in our children.

This is a Thanksgiving poem I wrote a few years back, which some folks have read aloud at their gatherings. It’s weird, but whatever.

And if you want something a thousand times more beautiful, here’s a benediction by Robert Farrar Capon (which you Hutchmooters will remember Pete reading before the final meal).

And finally, we present a fun song from our friends at the Tokens Show (a live radio show in the spirit of A Prairie Home Companion), called “Thank You, Thanksgiving!”

Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter and author. Andrew has released more than ten records over the past twenty years, earning him a reputation for songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. As an author, Andrew’s books include the four volumes of the award-winning Wingfeather Saga, released in collectible hardcover editions through Random House in 2020, and his creative memoir, Adorning the Dark, released in 2019 through B&H Publishing.


More from the Rabbit Room

7 Comments

  1. Brenda Branson

    AP, I’m so thankful for you and your family. You have been greatly blessed and are a blessing to many.

  3. Aden S

    So, I sit here writing this as I listen to the best song of thanksgiving this year (After All These Years), crying, waiting for my house to fill with guests, laughing over your poem, being convicted by Zach’s observations, and musing about the past year’s struggles. In short, it all makes me want to thank someone for this. The One from whom all blessings flow!

    I was also making my yearly list of things to be especially thankful for, and Rabbit Room made the top 5. I can’t begin to express how much God has used you, Andrew, and everyone here to encourage, convict, and grow me in my Walk these past few months. I thank God so, so much for the work that has been done here! Every time I vistit here I taste a small part of Heaven’s future feast, hear a chord of the eternal song, and re-awaken another part of the slumbering sinner turned Saint within my soul. All I can say through my tears of joy right now is thank you, and God bless you and yours!

    Soli Deo Gloria

  5. Laure Hittle

    i’m so grateful for every one of you weirdos. 😀 FYI: Nerdy=awesome; we established that while Justin was painting your map. So technically neither of Pete’s nerdy treasures were ridiculous (although an original trailer reel is really awesome).

    No chance any of those boxes contained any wearable glossaries, i suppose…

    ps. That poem was hilarious.

  6. Natalie Pace

    That song. I feel like I either don’t have any words or I don’t have enough to say what I’m thinking and feeling. That homesickness you described… and that line about it being better to be broken and redeemed than being merely innocent.
    That song describes this semester, my first semester at college… learning to delight in God, seeing Him and hearing Him in all the little things… thanking Him. And that homesickness you described is what I have felt, too, for so long… what C. S. Lewis called “Joy.” When I find people who understand that deep longing, too… there’s something amazing and miraculous. Thank you for putting words and music to something that’s so hard to define… but so real and strong.

  7. Jessica Boniface

    The poem was both whimsical and convicting.

    And, many thanks to all of those who write for and work behind the scenes here at the RR. Thank you for providing an outpost of light upon the interwebs. It makes a sometimes lonely existence feel less so.

If you have a Rabbit Room account, log in here to comment.