"7 Sing out your thanks to the LORD; sing praises to our God with a harp. 8 He covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures.9 He gives food to the wild animals and feeds the young ravens when they cry. 10 He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. 11 No, the LORD’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love."
Psalm 147:7-11 (NLT)
Thanksgiving Day is rapidly approaching and it's made me think of some memories I gained as a child. I realize that there may be a number of different ways and reasons that people in the world might approach the holiday that we refer to as Thanksgiving and some who don't at all. But for me, it's a sacred day, one set aside personally with reverent and humbled gratitude...
Growing up, the Thanksgiving holiday was always my mother's favorite which puzzled me as a kid. Why not Christmas with all that it represented in it's glittering wonder and and joy? Or maybe Easter with all the freshness of the long awaited Spring and the newness it represented?
It took a lot of work for Mom to put on the wonderful Thanksgiving dinners that she did and it usually left her tired from all that it took. Understanding the amount of effort she put into it and all of the clean up afterward left me questioning why she favored it so much. After once asking her and now experiencing it myself for many years in adult understanding, I get it and it carries great weight with me now.
As a child, I lived under the security and provision of my parents, never really considering who protected or provided for them beyond simple answers. Mom & Dad did what many parents do for their families - protecting and providing as best they could while I orbited my little childhood sphere of reality, not really worrying too much about security or provision... but then I grew up.
As a lover of Christ, childhood, an adult understanding and many years of parenthood have taught me an eye opening and repetitive lesson about thankfulness which continues to this day - take nothing for granted and appreciate gratefully, both what you have... and have not.
Of course I understand now who provided so that Mom and Dad could provide and also who secured them so that I could be secure. In fact, if our Lord didn't make the provision of the earth, the sun and the moon so that we could live, things would be very different. Pick an element of original creation. Take water for example, especially fresh, clean water. It's a huge blessing to us - not one we deserve, but one provided by a knowing and gracious God. Even the ability to harness the skill, understanding and knowledge to run it into villages, cities and even homes didn't just happen - it was placed in those who bring it, by the One who created them. It all comes back to one source of provision.
The plants, the animals, the resources and minerals in the ground that we build skyscrapers from, the skills and knowledge to build them, and even the air that we breathe were all provided by the knowing God who created us - so that we could live and create... and we "deserve" the benefit of none of it, except by grace. Whatever we might find reason to pride ourselves on... can all be traced back to the provision of the hands that originally created and provided so that we could create and provide. If you think about it, you might discover that there's really nothing that we can take the pride of origin in. We have a gracious God.
So I get it now and I guard it in my heart with a particular passion - I have for some time. Mom was grateful for a day, a whole day that she could set aside, just dwelling while she worked, on her thankful gratitude for the provision that the Lord continually made available - even in the simplest of things. She was thankful for His continual protection, for shelter, heat, food, clothing, water and all of the blessings He provided - even for the joy of being blessed to have family. She didn't let all of the work steal from her gratitude. It was because of her gratitude that she worked... to celebrate the One who gave it all.
Thanksgiving to my Mom was a particular day set aside for Her to express her thankfulness for the precious and undeserved gift that it is that we celebrate in Christmas and in Easter. That's why it was her favorite. We have reason every day to be more than simply grateful for what our amazing and generous God has provided and all that He's protected us from. And though we may thank Him every day, Thanksgiving is set aside for those of us that "get it" as a special and sacred day to make a special point of expressing our gratitude for all of those blessings, even the ones we might otherwise take for granted, to our doting Father God.
I pray the Lord blesses your thoughts on that day in particular and honors you with the sense of His presence as you honor Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) "18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."
Hebrews 12:28,29 "28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire."
Micah 6:8 (NLT) "No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Psalm 147:7-11 (NLT)
Thanksgiving Day is rapidly approaching and it's made me think of some memories I gained as a child. I realize that there may be a number of different ways and reasons that people in the world might approach the holiday that we refer to as Thanksgiving and some who don't at all. But for me, it's a sacred day, one set aside personally with reverent and humbled gratitude...
Growing up, the Thanksgiving holiday was always my mother's favorite which puzzled me as a kid. Why not Christmas with all that it represented in it's glittering wonder and and joy? Or maybe Easter with all the freshness of the long awaited Spring and the newness it represented?
It took a lot of work for Mom to put on the wonderful Thanksgiving dinners that she did and it usually left her tired from all that it took. Understanding the amount of effort she put into it and all of the clean up afterward left me questioning why she favored it so much. After once asking her and now experiencing it myself for many years in adult understanding, I get it and it carries great weight with me now.
As a child, I lived under the security and provision of my parents, never really considering who protected or provided for them beyond simple answers. Mom & Dad did what many parents do for their families - protecting and providing as best they could while I orbited my little childhood sphere of reality, not really worrying too much about security or provision... but then I grew up.
As a lover of Christ, childhood, an adult understanding and many years of parenthood have taught me an eye opening and repetitive lesson about thankfulness which continues to this day - take nothing for granted and appreciate gratefully, both what you have... and have not.
Of course I understand now who provided so that Mom and Dad could provide and also who secured them so that I could be secure. In fact, if our Lord didn't make the provision of the earth, the sun and the moon so that we could live, things would be very different. Pick an element of original creation. Take water for example, especially fresh, clean water. It's a huge blessing to us - not one we deserve, but one provided by a knowing and gracious God. Even the ability to harness the skill, understanding and knowledge to run it into villages, cities and even homes didn't just happen - it was placed in those who bring it, by the One who created them. It all comes back to one source of provision.
The plants, the animals, the resources and minerals in the ground that we build skyscrapers from, the skills and knowledge to build them, and even the air that we breathe were all provided by the knowing God who created us - so that we could live and create... and we "deserve" the benefit of none of it, except by grace. Whatever we might find reason to pride ourselves on... can all be traced back to the provision of the hands that originally created and provided so that we could create and provide. If you think about it, you might discover that there's really nothing that we can take the pride of origin in. We have a gracious God.
So I get it now and I guard it in my heart with a particular passion - I have for some time. Mom was grateful for a day, a whole day that she could set aside, just dwelling while she worked, on her thankful gratitude for the provision that the Lord continually made available - even in the simplest of things. She was thankful for His continual protection, for shelter, heat, food, clothing, water and all of the blessings He provided - even for the joy of being blessed to have family. She didn't let all of the work steal from her gratitude. It was because of her gratitude that she worked... to celebrate the One who gave it all.
Thanksgiving to my Mom was a particular day set aside for Her to express her thankfulness for the precious and undeserved gift that it is that we celebrate in Christmas and in Easter. That's why it was her favorite. We have reason every day to be more than simply grateful for what our amazing and generous God has provided and all that He's protected us from. And though we may thank Him every day, Thanksgiving is set aside for those of us that "get it" as a special and sacred day to make a special point of expressing our gratitude for all of those blessings, even the ones we might otherwise take for granted, to our doting Father God.
I pray the Lord blesses your thoughts on that day in particular and honors you with the sense of His presence as you honor Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) "18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."
Hebrews 12:28,29 "28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire."
Micah 6:8 (NLT) "No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
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