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At this Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for the Christ who:

-Shows me how far he'll go to rescue me from dark  places I'll go.

-Empowers me to let go of my guilt and shame so I  don't continue to do the same destructive things.

-Loves me until I can finally love  myself.

-Knocks the devil off when he gets on my  back.

-Comforts me when I'm in meltdown and struggle to  get through a new trial.

-Can't help but laugh when I tell him my  plans.

That's how I'm thankful for Christ this Thanksgiving.  

As for how I'm grateful for what I do, I appreciate being able to enjoy the personal satisfaction of trying to do his assignments for me well so I don't have to (what I'm inclined to do) compare myself with others. Galations 6:4.***

If you throw in a little turkey and dressing with these thanksgivings, that's a pretty good holiday, in my view.

***(Just for clarification, remember we're not redeemed and saved through and by our noble acts.  Instead we are saved strictly by the undeserved favor of Christ, nothing else.  But upon a life-changing encounter with him, we cannot help but to minister to others in a specific way He has commissioned for each of us to bring glory to his name.  Happy Thanksgiving)

We're experimenting this Thanksgiving at Gary and Ro's house. Our traditional Thursday meal this year will be Thanksgiving eve. 

 

The reason for our first ever Thanksgiving eve meal is that in our family there are numerous households doing Thursday meals.  Scheduling makes for frustration. 

 

Nobody wants to do the meal early.  Most prefer around 2pm.  If we try to cooperate with others and do ours late in the day, no one arrives hungry.  Not very encouraging for the main one preparing the meal.

 

So, this year, we've decided on early Wednesday evening, and our adult kids seem to be pleased with the new scheme. 

 

We also like the idea that on Thursday itself, we can embrace a friend who has no family in the area.  I know what that's like.  Lonely.  Left out.  A feeling that maybe you really don't matter to anyone. 

 

On a certain Thanksgiving day years ago, I, as a single-again adult, was spending Thanksgiving alone when the phone rang.  It was a friend who invited me over for turkey. The invitation made me feel I wasn't left out of the great American tradition. 

 

Do you know anyone like this you could put an arm around Thursday? (Romans 12:13)