Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite of mine. I remember the year that I noticed the retailers putting in their Christmas displays earlier and earlier (I think perhaps this year it was in late September or early October) and my only thought was, "We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!"

So I've always had a tender spot for this particularly American celebration. (I know that Canada has a Thanksgiving Day, too; and that it's on a different day--so the third Thursday of November is American Thanksgiving.)

And so, it isn't just a coincidence that we chose to make Thanksgiving weekend the big time in our family history. And for the past 15 years I have had special reason for giving thanks. God's special gift to me came packaged in a beautiful, loving heartstring named Hannah.

Happy Fifteen my heart of hearts.

Before you get all hot and bothered and upset that I haven't looked at my calendar lately, just remember that you're dealing with what I affectionately call "Benjie Logic" which includes some wonderful twists and turns. Here's how it works -

Valentine's Day is always on the 14th. Today is the 14th Anniversary of the day that my Valentine became my permanent Valentine before God, witnesses, and the pronouncement from the mouths of two fathers (hers and mine).

So, Happy Valentine's Day, my Blushing Bride. Here's looking forward to 144 more such days.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away for the country--I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving Day with you all. Here is a starry-eyed young couple that turned Thanksgiving into a day (November 25) rather than a Thursday. I love my Blushing Bride:

Entering into the Christmas season is always a great pleasure for me. Not the pushing and shoving and shopping and such, but the hustle and bustle does invigorate one. No, it's the celebration: the decorating of the home, the setting and celebrating of traditions; sappy Christmas movies that don't really have much to do with Christmas itself but do enlarge the spirit of the Holiday within the hearts of those who watch, the many versions of "Little Drummer Boy" that keep cropping up, "visions of sugarplums" dancing in all the heads of all the little children who've ever heard the poem by Clement Moore.

But what makes Christmas special is not just the Christ-child, it is the CHRIST, the Son of the living God - Jesus Himself. Born of a virgin. Living a sinless life in order to fulfill His purpose in coming at Christmastime anyway--to shoulder the responsibility for my sin willingly on a rough-hewn cross. I am so thankful that Jesus initiated Christmas so that my inadequate payment for my sin would be covered by all of His adequacy - His abundance. It is the Life found in Jesus the Christ that makes me so thankful every year, at both Thanksgiving and at Christmas.

(Advent Preview 4)

Peace.

When you hear the word, the image that comes to mind is often of the long-haired hippie in rosy-colored glasses raising his hand up with a two-fingered 'V' saying, "Peace! Baby." Or with a new vigor for it, you may think of the broken cross symbol that some people claim means peace.

But for me, my mind races back to those days when I see one of my children as a round-headed, bald-pated infant sleeping on their pillow, a soft smile touching their tiny lips.

Peace.

Another of those inner springs that well up not because of circumstance, but often in spite of it. In the midst of an embattled war zone - peace. At the end of a crime-ridden alleyway - peace. On the long dark ride from the chapel to the graveside - peace.

Peace.

It happens in that moment of overpowering triumph and it envelopes the sense of query that accompanies the times we cannot control. This is because in order to have peace, one must relinquish control to someone else. And if you really want to find peace, I would suggest that you relinquish your control to the One who alone has control--Jesus Christ. And because of Him I am thankful for . . .

Peace!

(A third Advent preview during the Thanksgiving season)

I love the thought of joy, don't you? That exuberance you experience for no apparent reason. It just bubbles up and you can't hold it in. We're not talking about mere happiness here, but boundless, life-filling . . . well . . . joy. Perhaps this video will make my point:



I am so thankful for Joy.

(Here's another Advent preview. Hope you enjoy)

Love comes at us in all directions and in many forms. We love our children. We love our parents. We love our sports teams. We love chocolate. We love pie (and how we love pie). But all of these examples of love don't really touch what the real thing is, do they? As a matter of the fact, some of these examples are more love-y than others.

Love is that great intangible that the Bible teaches us is the greatest. The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (I Corinthians 13:13)

You can't see love, though you can see evidence of it. You can't touch love, but you most certainly can feel it. And the most wonderful thing about love (the thing that I am so thankful for) is that the more of the love you pass on to others the more love you find that you have.

"A bell’s not a bell ’til you ring it A song’s not a song ’til you sing it Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!" – Oscar Hammerstein II

(I thought that for the last few days of November this year, I'd do an Advent Preview. This is not to replace, but to augment, my annual Advent posting.)

Hope - that not yet but going to be - goes beyond the wishful thinking that usually enters the mind when we use the word "hope". For instance, consider the following statements:

"I hope you have a good day today."
"I hope the weather is nice this weekend."
"I hope I get a nice gift for Christmas."

This kind of hope is not only selfish in nature, it hides our eyes from real hope. Real hope is based in an unknown reality. And as such provides more than a positive desire. Real hope gives way to selfless thinking and help for others. I am thankful for real Hope that is found in Christ Jesus.

One of the reasons that I am always thankful, and especially thankful during the month of November, and even more especially thankful on the twenty-fifth day of November is because this is the day (twelve years ago today) that my Beloved Blushing Bride stood before our fathers (yes both of them), a host of friends and family, and God Almighty Himself, and chose to become my Blushing Bride.

I am blessed by God through her. I am honored by her. And I just can't be thankful enough for all that happened over a few weeks at our missionary orientation and training so that I could be so blessed.

I am thankful for my Bride.

Before you get all excited. I'm not thankful for biscuits today (although I do like biscuits--with or without gravy, with butter, and with jelly, or just plain right out of the oven). Today, I am thankful for parents of parents--or grandparents!

I have the memory of two sets of my own. When we went to Grandmother's house (my mom's mother) we slept on the floor, woke up early to hear Grandmother making breakfast (including biscuits!), we explored the barns and sheds, played in the pasture, and had general fun. Somewhere there's a picture of several of us posing around the little tin wagon that we built and then painted with red tempera paint (every time we played with it afterward the paint came off on our hands and clothes).

I recall the story of my farmer Granddaddy as he was getting older. My cousin who was helping on the farm at the time heard something out on the porch in the middle of the night. He looked out on the porch to find Granddaddy in his sleep attire and a rifle in his hands. "What is it, Granddad?" he asked.

"There's a blame deer in the corn," came the reply. At this point Granddad raised the .22 and shot out into the dark. Next morning my cousin and our uncle went out in the field in the direction of the shot and found blood drops! Apparently, there was a "blame deer" in the corn.

MawMaw and PawPaw loved having the family to their place for holidays. When we went to San Antonio for a visit we had holly berry wars, and played with my Dad's cousin's boys (especially "Andy across the street" who was our age and bore the same name as my youngest brother). PawPaw told really bad jokes--always the same jokes and always just as corny. Q: Why did they bury the old Indian in the side of the hill? Reply: I don't know, why did they bury the old Indian in the side of the hill? A: Because he was dead!

I'm also thankful for my children's grands. We live so far away from both sets of parents' parents that we only get to see them once a year (if that). We relish phone calls, letters and packages. And we are thankful that our children love our parents as much as they love us.

And finally, since we do live so far from our own parents, I am extremely thankful for the friends who have generously stepped in to fill that grandparent gap for our children. Thanks to all of you who love on our children as if they are your own grandchildren.

I'm thankful, I suppose, for the little invention we call a camera. Because when the camera goes 'click' - instant memory! Certainly the real thing (memory, that is) is more vivid and vibrant than the moment caught on film, but the impact of the freeze-frame lets the reality come rushing back, better than the original.

From early days, we remember the good times, the bad times, the smiles, the jokes, the blessings, and the struggles that build the character that makes us who we are.

I remember first day of first grade. Arriving at school with my "twin" Sherry Long (we discovered shortly after moving to Cason, Texas that we shared a birthday): anticipation that something new and exciting was going to happen. Happy that I didn't have to face it by myself and quickly making a host of other friends to add to the one that I arrived to school with.

I remember my first crash. A real crash. Coaster brakes on bicycles on steep inclines should be applied early rather than late. Another thing for which I'm thankful is that the pick-up I ran into was mostly through the intersection and not just starting. Otherwise I'd probably be not here being thankful for memories.

I remember friends from the past. The laughs, the tears, the arguments. I remember the retreats to Mt. Lebanon with campfire devotions in the late October when it was getting cool. One year Randy even asked me to bring the devotional thought at the fire. Don't remember if it was a good devotion--probably a little lean because I spent the walk up the hill hiding behind the evergreens so that I could jump out and frighten the girls and younger youth (not much time to think about devotions on that walk).

I remember college days - at both HPU and OBU, separate but fond memories both.

See, the memories just keep flooding in. And if you've got a picture of photo album, the mountain will keep growing. Sometimes the tears (happy tears) will start flowing; at others the laughter just bursts forth and someone in the room with you will say, "What's so funny?" At which time you try to re-live and describe the memory, never doing it the justice that it deserves. And certainly without the Technicolor, VistaVision that replays in your mind. But the memory is still there and it's good. So, remember. And be thankful.

Oh no! You say--here comes another eating post. Okay, guilty. But today, Thanksgiving Day, has become for Americans a day of excess and gluttony. We say we are thankful and then we eat ourselves into oblivion. We eat big and then we snack the rest of the day.

In the midst of our eating we become drowsy and begin to nod in front of the big football game. (To nod but not to snore.) Who is the culprit for this uninvited sleepiness? We have come to place all the guilt at the feet of the Thanksgiving Turkey and his modicum of tryptophan. Truth be told, no more of this ingredient (which our bodies need in small amounts) that is in this holiday delicacy, we would have to eat more than one whole turkey (by ourselves) in one sitting in order for it to cause the sleepiness that overcomes us. I imagine that the culprit lies in the decision not to stop with just three helpings of everything plus a sampling of all five kinds of desert.

Even so, I like me some Turkey on Thanksgiving Day. And I'll eat me some Turkey on Thanksgiving Day. And I'll be thankful for Turkey (Tryptophan and all) on Thanksgiving Day. And in the mean time I'll force myself to moderate so that I can spend less time eating and more time being Thankful on Thanksgiving Day.

Something about sunshine just brightens my day. I don't know, maybe its the sunshine. I have a cousin who always greets me (and I'm assuming everyone else, but it's nice to think that it's just me) with: "Hello, Sunshine!" I like that. It means that her day has been brightened when people come into her sight.

The sunshine that we know helps the plants to find nourishment and it also lights up the world so we can see those healthy plants. It provides for us certain vitamins to keep us healthy, too. It warms us and teaches us about the One  true Light who brightens life and gives Sonshine to those who believe.

I used to parody: "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me sunburned/Sunshine in my eyes can make me blind . . ." But in all truth, today I am truly thankful for this:

This time of year you begin to see the generous spirit of people begin to shine through. You don't mind the annoying 'cling-clanging' of the Santa's helper outside the retail outlet. As a matter of fact you reward his/her generous donation of time in behalf of the Salvation Army to drop a few drips of generosity into the red bucket yourself.

Some people volunteer to help gather together goodies in shoe boxes and food baskets for a host of charities. People donate time in a soup kitchen and extra money that isn't really extra to the charity of their choice. In the midst of commercialism and greed you can witness the glimpses of generosity all around you.

Be generous with your time, talents, and finances this Thanksgiving season. You will be glad you did, and so will those who benefit from your generosity.

I am thankful for this kind of generosity. But I am most thankful for the generosity bestowed upon me when the Christ, the Son of the Living God, was sent to Earth to make provision from me. It is a double gift of generosity because God gave his only Son (generosity), and Jesus gave himself (generosity) so that I might experience life to the fullest.

What generosity! I am blessed and I am thankful.

You've seen how much I am thankful for children. Today I want to express my thanks for the three children who are closest to me, let's call them Puddn' N Pie, Bubba, and Little Bit.

Over the last decade or so, these children have invaded my life. They demand my attention. They fill my thoughts. And they bless my heart with blessings beyond measure.

I love the Psalmist's assessment: Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the children of one's youth.

I heard it again this week, a statement that was new to me about five years ago: "The Bible starts in a garden,  and ends in a city." The implication is that cities are more important than rural settings in the eyes of God. The difficulty that I have with such a statement is that, as I read Scripture, God is concerned about all the people of His creation. At one point we are told that He "is not willing that any should perish." (see 2 Peter 3:9) Elsewhere we read the parable about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to find 1 that is lost out in the wilderness. (Read it in Luke 15) So, I am convinced that God, as He loves the masses gathered in the cities around our globe, loves (just as much) the farmers and rural citizens who have chosen to stay in the countryside.

What these two (city mouse and country mouse, for those who remember that story) have in common is community. Community - people making a go of life together in a similar situation or thrust together because of geographical location. I think that community is a good thing. It reminds us that we need other people. Mankind is the pinnacle of the social being. We need contact with other human beings.

Today I want to let it be known that I am thankful for my current community. It includes churches, schools, citizens (both young and old). We find people of all races, genders, and ages scattered around. Today in particular community is important because we will be gathering for thanksgiving purposes as we worship our maker. Many will be gathering in their own local church setting for worship this morning, and then this evening we will note the patchwork that is Mulberry Grove as we gather together in our Community Thanksgiving Service.

I love community--either big or small. And I am thankful for the friendliness that is a constant part of my local community.

Not everyone can boast of the best brothers and sister in the world. But of course everyone is not me. One of the greatest blessings in my life is the joy of growing  up with two brothers and a sister who are all special in their own way. I will never have the ability to understand the life of an only child (which may be a blessing for them) because I've never been one. I'm the third of four.

I have a big brother who has always been practical and protective of his younger siblings.
I have a sister who (aside from the time she wanted to give me away because there was a new baby in the house and she was "finished with Benjie") has always understood and loved me.
I have a younger brother who has always been good to listen and (when we were young) play the games I suggested.

In their own right, each of them has grown to be a person of deeper faith; marrying God-loving Christ followers which allows for their own homes to be filled with the same kind of influence in which we were all reared. What a great blessing to have such siblings. I am thankful.

Just because my daddy was a preacher doesn't necessarily mean that he is a godly man. But because his greatest concern is to share the love of Jesus Christ with those around him does. I would have to say, though that the most godly (godliest?) person I know is not my preacher father, but his wife--my mother.

"If you're ever in a jam, here I am . . ." the line from the song "Friendship" is the sentiment that most people are looking for in a friend. Sadly, too often we want someone else to be that friend for us but we don't fully grasp the need to be that same kind of friend for them. And with the runaway popularity of social media like Facebook, the idea of friendship has reached an all-time high in terms of glossy surface.

I am not advocating changing the language used in social media. After all, it's nice to have a growing number of friends. And of course friends come in all shapes and sizes. There are those friends who are your friends because you have experience in common--grade school, high school, college or military; there are friends who come from a work setting; there are friends who are friends because of proximity--your next-door-neighbor; there are friends who are friends because of Providence.

Friends are people with whom we are polite, and more than polite. Friends are those with whom we share pieces of our life. The closeness of the friendship determines the size of the pieces of our lives.

The best thing about a good friend is that they will remain our friend when we are not so friendly, they stick by us through thick and thin, and over time zones of distance. The old saying is, "to have a friend, be a friend."

For you, my friend (since you read the whole post), I am thankful.