Today is thanksgiving! This is a day that many prepare a big feast and invite family and
friends to sit at their table and declare that thanksgiving is really ‘turkey day’. Please, don’t call it turkey day! I believe that thanksgiving is still the day that we come together around the table to give thanks for God’s goodness. Because of His goodness we have food on the table. We have a table to sit at! The table is in a room that is only one in a house full of rooms that we call home.
Thanksgiving is a day that our nation sets aside to give thanks to God for our country and its freedoms. Freedoms, that we still have in spite of some that seem to be in jeopardy. Thanksgiving is a day that we can be thankful for our families and friends who we love and care for. We give thanks for our schools and public places that bring continuity to our communities and peace among the people. We give thanks for our church families that encourage and lift us up. We give thanks for good times and times when we felt the need only for God.
I have always loved Thanksgiving! This day would bring my family all together, sitting down at one very long table. That was no easy task because we were many. A lot of thought and care would go into the preparations but it was the sitting down together that was always so very special. I remember once we not only had a turkey, but a goose and a duck!
How I love Thanksgiving, oh let me count the ways! The family of my youth and throughout my life. My family that Jim and I have together which includes another daughter and three delightful grandsons and their other grandmother. My extended family that is everywhere and God calls it His church. I am thankful for this country that in spite of its worldliness , God still blesses it. I am thankful for God allowing me to be who I am and no longer hide his love for me under a bushel but I can shout it loud and clear over the internet. Can you count the ways you love Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a time for praising our God because praise should inhabit His people. Praising God with songs of rejoicing brings joy among Gods people. You just need to stop and think about God’s goodness to you. Count the blessings and make note of the tiny splashes of joy that create the huge puddles we walk in daily, because we know that God is with us.
I remember walking home from school as the rain filled the streets and caused us to walk down the middle of the road in order to keep our feet dry. But what did we do? We took our shoes off and walked and splashed in ankle deep water and loved it. We felt the abandonment of the moment! That is what praising God and giving thanks is on thanksgiving day. Giving thanks to our Lord with abandonment of the moment because all things come from Him. In reality thanksgiving is an action, not a day! "Happy are the people that call upon their Lord and welcome Him into their gates with thanksgiving and praise"! Jane Ann