When November rolls around, thankfulness comes to mind. (At least it should!) Thanksgiving Day, spent with friends and family is a wonderful event. Mine will be a little different this year. Robin and I will be in Ireland with Stephen and Alisa’s family for a couple of weeks, and Thanksgiving (American) will fall in the middle of our time there!
I am glad to say that the Annual “Waltons’ Thanksgiving extravaganza” will still be happening, but it will be “the Mark and Joy McKinnon Thanksgiving Extravaganza” this year! Thanks Mark and Joy!!!
It’s going to be weird to be in a country on Thanksgiving that doesn’t celebrate the day, but Stephen and Alisa have managed for all these years now… I guess we’ll manage too!
That’s not to say that we won’t be celebrating or being thankful. They have had guests over to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal for a number of years now. We’ll be doing our part as well. We bought Thanksgiving napkins, a paper fold out turkey, and some other things to bring some fun to the celebration!
As Christians, we should be grateful, no matter what our current circumstances or location may be. We know that we are in God’s hands. The Pilgrims, who hosted the first Thanksgiving feast in America, understood this. They had just been through a winter that they were ill-prepared for, and over ½ of their community died. They have worked hard all spring, summer and fall to get ready, but they know another brutal winter is almost upon them. But they celebrated anyway! They even invited the neighbors! They knew that God was in control!
God has given all Christians special promises that are not given to non-believers. Romans 8: 28 (NASB95) And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. This promise tells us that if we (1) Love God, which means CHOOSING to do things God’s way, even when we really don’t feel like it, and (2) we are “Called according to His purpose,” allowing God to lead us to the proper path for our life, the things that happen in our lives will work out for our good. Maybe not in the way we imagined, but it will work out according to God’s plan! The second promise is much like the first. James 1:2–4 says Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. These verses remind us that things won’t always be easy… training seldom is… but our trials and testing produce endurance! That training gives us the ability to keep going when things get difficult. This produces growth in us that moves us toward being more like God wants us to be!
So, enjoy this Thanksgiving season. Try to actually spend some time being thankful! There are lots of people we should be thankful to, there are many things we should be thankful for, but remember to be especially thankful to God!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your Turkey but be thankful!!
John
