Thanksgiving Time

As a child I always like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. I think to me it is a much less demanding holiday. Eating doesn't ask a lot from you except to show up, load up your plate, open your mouth, insert food, chew and swallow. A natural talent most of us have to unlearn as we get older since food entering the body has an ugly habit of turning into big hips, or big belly or oversize love handles. We love big cars, big houses, big salaries but small hips, flat stomachs and please can we leave the handles out of love handles.

I guess from were I sat it was the easier of the two holidays. Of course from my mom's perspective it was a day of work. Get up early and cook most of the day. Some folks even start the night before cooking pies and bread and then continuing on Thanksgiving morning and into the afternoon. The funny thing is it's all over in about 30 minutes. Maybe less, depending on how fast an eater you are. I was known as a fast eater - kind of like my driving - so Thanksgiving dinner to me was over in about 5 minutes. Doesn't seem right, does it.

All this preparation and eating was followed by a time of cleaning the dishes, the kitchen and the dinning area. I always saw this as an opportunity to work off the food we had just eaten. My work time involved moving to the living room after dinner to turn on the TV and find the right football game or movie for my dad to watch. My dad was demanding and I had to stand by the TV and turn - we had no remote control - the TV knob until I found a channel my dad wanted to watch. It was work to a young child. EXHAUSTING.


Thanksgiving is after all a time of remembrance of the the past year. To the pilgrims of old it was a celebration of a great harvest. Their meal itself reflected the abundant crops they had harvested. After surviving a horrible winter and working hard through spring and summer they were now able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. It truly was a time of THANKSGIVING.

Being thankful is not just an act of gratitude but is also a move of faith. When I begin to thank God for those things I ask in prayer I demonstrate that I already believe that He will provide.

(Mark 11:24 NASB) "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

At my Thanksgiving table there will be a number of very grateful people to God for all that he has done this past year. However, I have prayed for this up coming year and I have asked God for some very specific things. I know that He is a God who not only hears but answers prayer. These things are not just quick off the top of my head things. These are things that I have thought about and discussed with family and with God. And when I truly knew what it was that I desired from God for this next year - I made my request know to Him. I spoke and I know He listened. Since I know He heard and He is God who answers prayer I can now begin to thank Him for the things that I have asked before I even see them come to fruition.

Grateful for the past and excited about the future. This is the Thanksgiving spirit which will surround my Thanksgiving table. I pray the same will surround yours. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalms 100:1-5