Cook

I got to talking today about Thanksgiving and how I cook the meal for my whole family. Some years we have 9 people .....some years we had more. I have to work this year on the holiday so we will celebrate together a few days later. This is not a big deal as everyone was flexible in changing the day. I feel honored that they all still wanted me to cook it and host the meal at our house. I told everyone they could just do their own things with each other, but they said they would wait for me. Wow.....they must love me a whole bunch. Haha.

Tradition in our house before we eat is for each of us to say what we are thankful for this past year. My husband started this tradition years ago and it stuck. After we say our thanks, we all gather hands in our circle, and my husband prays and thanks God for everything. One year we decided to try a new thing. This took quite some time so we waited until after we ate to do it. Each of us got a notecard and put our own name on the top. We passed the card so everyone could write one thing we are thankful for the person for in their life. We kept passing until we all wrote on everyone's card. Like I said it was timely, but the memory and the keepsake we all have was well worth it. I still have mine and at the time we wrote them, some of my kids were in elementary school. It's such a treasure to see how they have grown and to have the card is so beautiful. My family wrote such nice messages to me.....like I said they must love me a whole bunch. Haha. It truly is a keepsake for years to come.

We tend to focus on "things" at thanksgiving. Thanking God for what we have. I've learned we just need to thank Him for who He is. He doesn't owe us anything. Yes, he loves us and gives us blessings, but he wouldn't have to. We shouldn't expect him to just give us things because we feel entitled somehow, but praise Him though all things and all circumstances. The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Thanks in ALL circumstances......this is not easy, but it will prove our trust of our Father if we thank Him for it all.

When my daughter was about 7-8.....my husband called me at work stating he was taking her to the doctor as she may have broke her wrist. She and her brother were wrestling or whatever and she injured her wrist. Our doc said to bring her in.....so I left work and met him at the doctor. He sent us to thr hospital for the X-ray and found out she did fracture it. We got a temporary splint and went home for the night. That night as she lay in her bed.....I walked past her room. She was praying and thanking God for the accident and the pain in her wrist. I almost fell on the floor. What kid is thankful for pain? But I heard it with my own ears. She knows I tell this story often to show her humbleness and trust of a good God. That night will forever ring in my ears as a blessing from our God. That night was proof that our God is good and we need to thank Him in all circumstances.

This year I'm not sure how our meal will turn out.....I'm trying some new recipes and I'll admit I'm not the best cook known around town.....but I have a family who appreciates it and I'll do it for them. The fellowship and love is worth all the time it takes to prepare it all. This year we will all give thanks to our good God who loves us more than we could ever imagine. We will thank Our God who saved us from ourself and our sin as He hung on that cross. We will thank Our God who chose us out of the world to be His children since before creation ever began. This is what we should do everyday......not just on Thanksguving, but always. After all praising God will be a full time affair in heaven.....we might as well get used to it here! ❤️