Happy (Joyful) Thanksgiving!!

I love the holidays!  It makes my heart sing and soar and laugh and actually giggle like a little girl!  My heart beats fast with excitement and all the promises that comes with this time of the year.  

When the kids were little, my main concern was making sure that it was magical for them!  That they would remember why we were celebrating that particular day – to give thanks; to celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ; to rejoice in Easter regarding the Resurrection; etc.  It wasn’t the turkey, Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, etc.

I wanted them to have wonderful memories that would anchor them to those days and they would remember the aromas, songs, foods, sights, colors – the preparation was the heart of it all!  I would start humming Christmas songs sometimes in early fall – it would drive people crazy – my mind was already preparing, planning, and I would laugh with excitement! 

At this time of the year, fall decorations were prime – leave collection and ironing them between wax paper to preserve them as long as possible so we could remember the beautiful fall colors during the winter months.  We’d also send them out to the family out in the warm climates like the grandparents in Puerto Rico.  Candles, and fall wreaths, were all around the house!

Way before this weekend, I would have my menu and people would have been invited weeks before!  I always cooked for many more than were invited because if you cook, they would come – the neighbors, friends, family, etc., even if they had dinner elsewhere, they would come for a bit more or for dessert or just to be there.  Magic – it was great!  Everyone would leave with some food or dessert – you don’t leave empty handed.  And the leftovers – you have to have leftovers! 

The girls were always so excited and cooking was always going on!  They would help with the baking (all from scratch) of pies,  homemade applesauce (yummmm!), cookies, fresh bread – the flour would be flying all over!  The house smelled so delicious you could take a bite out of the air and chew it! 

The serious cooking of our traditional foods would start very early on Thanksgiving  morning!  Everybody would be up early – preparing the house, music playing, table being set,  the chopping of plenty of wood for the fireplace and the readying it with logs to be lit later that day before the company arrived – along with the candles, etc.

Memories – wonderfully, warm delicious memories that have anchored me to those days, along with my family for many, many, years!  And as the girls have become adults and have their own families – they have built on those wonderful days by adding their own touches and creating their own magical anchors for their families.  How exciting is that? 

There were a few thanksgivings that were different for us – we volunteered to work in the kitchen and/or be servers at Bethel Christian Fellowship who provided dinner for hundreds of community families and individuals in dire need.  When we were done, we’d head home or to the home of friends or family we had been invited to have our Thanksgiving dinner - feeling a lot more humble and reverent of what the day was about and with whom we had shared it – and we were so very thankful (there go I, but by the grace of God)  – for all that God had bestowed upon us.  So many things to be grateful for and not take for granted!

Whatever the situation was – when we gathered together to have our meal, we always remembered why we were gathered - to give thanks to God for all the blessings that He had given us.  So many times we don’t think we’ve been blessed – rather cursed because of the trials, sickness, death, loss of jobs, homes, families, etc. that have befallen us.   We may feel lonely, betrayed, lifeless, depressed and just miserable.  However, in all these things, some of which may have been the results/consequences of choices made along life’s path and  others which are completely out of our control, we forget to thank God for all the blessings He has cast our way regardless of the journey.  The fact that we wake up every day – have another day of promises, opportunities, blessings, to make things right, to improve oneself or someone else, to be involved in life!

Every day I give thanks to God - for waking up – praise God!  For my job, my home, that I live in this country, that I am warm, that He has kept me safe during the night; even as trivial as for the sparrows and finches (the Lord knows I enjoy them) that are noisily and beautifully harmonizing outside my window every day and very early – chatting up a storm, looking for food, feeding their young or just talking!  For my family, my wonderful blessings which are my incredible daughters and their families, my dearest grandchildren, my dear parents, my wonderful sister and her family, my brother, my nieces and their families, my wonderfully outrageous friends, my pastors, the church family, their love; for the past that has made me so strong in the present and the promise of the future.  For this latest journey I’m walking through.  For the Lord God who doesn’t let me go and has kept His Hand on me.  Because He provides all my needs!  For His love and forgiveness; for my continued  faith-growth in Him.  For all of you…..!  There are so many many things to be grateful and give thanks to the Lord for - just think about it and you will find things also – even if you just start with one thing.   

I know that sometimes it may be hard to even be able to think of one thing to be grateful for because of the life situation you may be in – but if we start with just one thing today and  build on that the next day……. and the next….. before you you it, you are communing with the Lord God every day and being thankful.  Before you know it you are in the throes of worship! And the joy of the Lord will be filling up your heart!  You won’t be able to help yourself – there is joy in thanksgiving! And when that joy fills you, your life journey changes!  Your attitude changes!  You change!

So this Thanksgiving as you are around the table or whatever your situation is, why not start the conversation if no one else does and  start mentioning what you are thankful for, remember to be joyful and happy in your thanks giving (in giving thanks) to the Lord God who loves us so much that He sent His only Son to cancel out the debt and reconciled us back with Him,  so we could accept Him and be part of His family!  I thank God above all things for this – that I am part of His family, a daughter of the King, and co-heir with Jesus!  Praise the Lord and Thank You Father for your greatest gift of all – Your Love………

Joyful thanks giving to you and yours,

Mildred