Thanksgiving 2018

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits!

Psalm 103:2 

It is so easy to forget, isn't it? So easy to complain. So easy to focus on the imperfect. So easy to forget His kindness. So easy to miss His blessings because they don't come packaged as we wanted them. I think that's one of the reasons that I love the season of Thanksgiving so much. Focusing on my blessings causes my heart to praise!

(At the end of this post, I am going to share one of my favorite passages about gratitude. I have shared it before, but it bears repeating. We are so prone to forget.)

Some glimpses of our Thanksgiving Day . . . 

We added leaves of blessings to the Thankful Tree.

The table was set for twenty-two this year. I used my Friendly Village dishes, supplemented by white dishes layered with another brown transfer ware pattern. We used a collection of cream napkins, some new, some vintage ones gathered from antique stores. My Aunt Lynn's fine crystal and dollar store goblets graced the table, as well as four different kinds of flatware. Yes, it was a mix-and-match affair, but it worked!

Every year when we go on our Mother/Daughter Christmas Shopping Trip, I eye the little potted mums at Trader Joe's, but I had never purchased them. I was always afraid they wouldn't fare too well in the heat of the car, or that they wouldn't still be pretty by Thanksgiving. But this year I had determined, if the weather was cool enough (and it was), to give them a try. Success! We added candles and called it good. 

Ron carved the turkey, while Kristin made the gravy. A couple of years ago, Gammy (my mom) passed the gravy-torch to her. 

It was Judah's first Thanksgiving!

While last minute things were happening in the kitchen, first Gampy, then Gammy read stacks of books to Macie. The adults looked at the sales flyers in the newspaper. 

Before the feast, we always sing a Thanksgiving hymn. This year's: "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come."

Kati recorded the last verse. Join us in singing it, if you'd like!


Then Ron prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, and it was time for the feast!

Kristin, Kati, and for the first time, Maddie, were the "servants" this year. (Sarah and Brian are often servants, but they were taking turns with Baby Judah.) They brought each dish in from the kitchen and passed it around the table, helping the youngers when needed. I love this tradition. It beats a long buffet line, and it is better than making space for all of those dishes on the table. God bless the servants!

This was a first for us . . . a Thanksgiving selfie!

The Feast: Part Two.

Our blessings are many! 

Here is the quote I promised you. Does it challenge you as it does me?

Our culture is riddled with a poisonous spirit of entitlement. We always think we deserve more. We’re disappointed with our family, our neighbors, church, the waitress, the sales clerk, and the department of motor vehicles. Ultimately, we’re disappointed with God. He hasn’t given us everything we want.

What madness! If only we could see our situation clearly—even for a moment. We deserved expulsion; He gives us a diploma. We deserved the electric chair; He gives us a parade. Anything less than overwhelming gratitude should be unthinkable. He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything. When you realize you deserve nothing better than hell, it puts a “bad day” in perspective, doesn’t it?

Christians in Sudan—who’ve suffered unspeakably for their faith—are deeply grateful for God’s daily blessings. But us? We whine and pout.

Thankfulness should draw a clear line between us and a Christless world. If the same spirit of entitlement and ingratitude that characterizes our culture characterizes us, what do we have to offer?

If I grasp that I deserve hell, I’ll be filled with gratitude not only for God’s huge blessings—including my redemption and home in heaven—but also for His smaller blessings: sun, rain, a beating heart, eyes that see, legs that walk, a mind that thinks...And because Christ allowed Himself to be crushed under the weight of my sin, I’ll enjoy forever a clear mind and a perfect body...Never believe anything about yourself or God that makes His grace to you seem anything less than astonishing. Because that’s exactly what it is.

~Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox, Multnomah Publishers 2003, pp. 33-35