Give Thanks

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 107:1

Happy Thanksgiving to you! This day is a day of celebration, family and a meal shared with family and friends. As a Christian it is also a day to thank God for all His gifts and to sincerely recognize who we belong to and to share the love of God with others. As I am writing this I am thinking about past Thanksgiving gatherings with my family, as a kid it was looking forward to spending the day with aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. The aroma of homemade foods lingering in the air and sneaking a taste of icing on a cake when no one was looking. It seemed every year my grandfather would always ask me to say Grace, I often felt it wasn’t fair that he never ask anyone else to say the blessing. Today, I am ever so thankful I was given that responsibility. Every year our family would use the local Lodge Hall for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. It was an old wooden building that had creaky, slated floors and a bit of a cold draft in the winter. There was an old upright piano in one corner, none of us played but that didn’t keep us from banging on the keys. Those tradition faded as individual families began growing and children growing-up, and grandparents passed away. My family continued the Thanksgiving day meal with as many of us that could make it, my mom was always up before dawn making preparations for a feast. Homemade sage dressing, homemade yeast rolls, delicious chocolate sheet cake, green bean casserole, Turkey, scalloped corn, candied yams, deviled eggs, dad’s special oyster dressing and jellied cranberry to name a few(!). Things slowly change over time, not planned, it just happens. Families grow, marriages happen, children happen, loved ones pass away and before you know it traditions change again. My family continues the tradition of sharing a meal, the faces around the table changes from time to time but the purpose remains constant, being “thankful” for all the things we enjoy from year to year, watching families grow and remember those who are no longer with us and all the joy they gave us. My prayer is for God’s Love to be shared today with everyone around you. If you are alone, know that you are never alone, God is always with you. I am planning on striving for intentionality today to be thankful for everything and to be intentional in what I am asking God for. Often I find myself at prayer time asking God for things almost immediately when I pray and I usually gasp a little and tell myself, “Seriously…after all the things that God provided for me today…I start by asking for more(?)…I then readjust my thought process and specifically name the things that got me through the day because God was with me and provided. When was the last time you thanked God for clean drinking water(?) for shelter (?) for clothing (?)… I am so blessed and sometimes I forget just how blessed I am. My life is not perfect, I don’t always get things to go my way, I’m not rich, financially that is but I am rich is the saving grace of God. I have tough days, I get upset and angry at times, I sometimes get disappointed by people and things and yet with all these things “I AM BLESSED BEYOND IMAGINATION BECAUSE GOD LOVES ME AND WANTS ME IN HIS KINGDOM!” Wherever you are today and whatever you are doing this day, know this for certain…God Loves You!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%2014:6&version=NIV

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Zephaniah%203:17&version=NIV

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:9-17 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%2015:9-17&version=NIV

~Blessings and Peace~