Thanks be to “ye Almighty God for all his blessings!”
Hey, everyone!
Can you believe it?
I love it!!
It's already almost Thanksgiving Day!! What IS it about that day that is so awesomely beautiful?
Is it the smells that take you back to memories that are sweeter than pecan pie?
(If our kids come to our house the Bennett Rd way, for the grandkids in back. it's literally "over the river…or creek, really…and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!")
Is it the sentimental feeling inside that feels warmer than the bird in the oven?
Is it the thoughts of the "Thanksgivings of days-gone-by" that swell your heart like a helium balloon drifting down Fifth Ave in front of Macy's?
I don't think so, really.
I think the thing inside my heart that I love on Thanksgiving is that it gives you a whiff of the feeling that should fill every room in your heart every day of the year!
To deliberately, intentionally, thoughtfully, purposefully, methodically, introspectfully and retrospectfully slooooooow dooooooown long enough to thank God for…
all we have…
all He is…
all He gives…
THAT'S what feels so awesome and "Thanksgiving-y" about Thanksgiving Day!
It's not from remembering what "the Day" used to feel like, but from remembering that this is the way every day should feel!
To be filled with thanks is as beautifully satisfying and satisfyingly filling as two or three plate-loads of turkey and stuffing!
Sometimes I feel like forgetting to be thankful every day is like forgetting to get out of your PJ's.
Ever had that feeling where you're sitting at work or walking down the hall at school or sitting in the stands for the game and realize, "What!? I'm still in my PJ's!! How did THAT happen?"
You haven't?
Well, me neither, but…
It WOULD be crazy, awkward, and a cause for concern! "What's happening to me? I'm losing it! I forgot to get out of my PJ's!"
For us who have been sooooo loved and blessed, to leave our house without a thankful, thanks-filled heart would be just as weird! And crazy and awkward and concerning!
I remember one guy writing that he was having a tough time. His marriage had falling apart and he was in "just making it" mode. He slipped into a diner one Saturday. Folks sitting…eating…reading…sipping coffee. Minding each their own business. A young mom and little daughter sat in a booth and the little girl watched as food was delivered and immediately consumed.
"Mom, don't people thank the Lord here?" she said.
The waitress stopped. "Sure, honey! We thank the Lord here! Would you like to lead us?"
"Ok", she answered.
Then the waitress added, "HEY! EVERYBODY SHUT UP AND BOW YOUR HEADS! WE'RE THANKING THE LORD TODAY!"
Everyone froze. Then you could hear a sweet voice say…
"God is great.
God is good.
Now we thank Thee for our food.
By Thy hand we are fed.
Thank You, Lord for daily bread.
Amen."
And everyone looked up. And smiled!
And a couple clapped!
And there rose in the air a feeling of cheer. In an instant, everything had changed about the place! I remember that fellow who told of the moment wrote something like, "And I felt a change in my heart. I knew I had been going through a tough time, for sure. But I had my Lord! He had forgiven me and made me His own! And at least HE would never leave me! And I knew I was going to walk into the future with Him! How many things I had to be (but had forgotten to be) thankful for! Thanks changes everything!
"Now ain't that better?" said the waitress. "I think from now on, we'll start everyday that a way!"
So, it's good (tho' a little crazy that we even need it!) to have someone tell us, "Remember to thank God! For everything!"
Y’know, at Thanksgiving, I used to love to read (sniff, sniff) an old proclamation from Gov. Bradford to those cold and hungry pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving. I first read it in a book somewhere and had always loved it. It goes like this…
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes and garden vegetables, and made the forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from the pestilence and granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, now I, your magistrate do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of nine and twelve in the daytime on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth Rock, there to listen to ye Pastor and render Thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all his blessings."
Then I got some bad news…Turns out that “proclamation” is probably not real. Somebody apparently made it up not too many years ago and it’s been in circulation ever sense.
Crud! I loved those words!
Seems someone invented ye old paragraph in the 20th century. That’s the opinion of James W. Baker, Senior Historian at Plymouth Plantation. Words like “pilgrims” and “Plymouth Rock” weren’t used ‘til years later.
I guess I had honestly wondered sometimes if there weren’t a few too many “ye’s” thrown in there for that thing to be real.
Oh well! If they didn’t say those exact words, they said something like it!
And so do we!
We thank God for all His goodness!
For all His promises!
For loving each of us so wonderfully!
For washing us clean and making us His!
For giving us delicious food and a beautiful country to live in!
For filling our hearts with joy!
For giving the faith to trust Him when it gets tough!
For a life full of a growing family and loving friends!
For something good and sweet to do for Him!
For our awesome Triple C family!
And at the Job house, we thank God for you!!
We love you all and hope this is “blessed-est” Thanksgiving ever!!
Thanks be to “ye Almighty God for all his blessings!”
Friday, ye 21th of ye November, of the year of our Lord, two thousand and ye fourteen