On Tuesday, forty days after Christmas, we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation: the day, forty days after Jesus’ birth, when, following Jewish law, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus up to the Temple to give thanks for the safe and healthy birth of their child.

If you’ve ever been with a six-week-old baby, you know that there’s a lot to give thanks for. But you also know that it’s a difficult time, and that it will continue to be difficult for years into the future—well into that baby’s adulthood! There are many sleepless nights and much heartbreak ahead. And yet they paused, at that moment, to give thanks for the good things that had already happened.

For me, there’s a lesson in that for this year. We are still in a difficult time, but we don’t need to wait for things to be perfect to give thanks for what’s good. Tuesday night, we had the last meeting of this Vestry before we elect new members at our Annual Meeting, and we gave thanks for their ministry. On Sunday, we’ll have our Annual Meeting, and we’ll look at the year that is past. We’ll recognize the difficulty, but we’ll also celebrate what has been good and give thanks to God for keeping us together this year, because we don’t need to wait for everything to be perfect before we can give thanks for what is good.

That’s as true in our own lives as it is in the church. So give thanks today for whatever is good, even if there’s plenty that’s bad, as well.