Thanksgiving Thoughts...

Thanksgiving – a time to give thanks and be with family. As Thanksgiving was approaching, I knew I needed to work to direct my focus on the Lord because if I didn't, I could easily get swallowed up in my sorrow of missing Pete during this special family time of the year. So I decided I wanted to concentrate on being thankful to the Lord for Who He is and I wrote down these verses to memorize:

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness; Come before Him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we are His! We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalms 100

Pete and I always loved the gathering together of the family at our house. We have hosted Pete’s large extended family for years. As I thought about preparing for that many folks to be at the house without Pete’s help, I did have to consider how I was going to handle everything! Pete and I were always a good team and worked hard together to make all the preparations happen and happen well when we would host events! So I did what any wise mother/grandmother would do…called on available children and grandchildren to come earlier in the week and help! They were great…and it was a good way to share the work load with a lot of laughs thrown in the mix. It also was a good way to begin “teaching” little 2 year old Luke how important it was to be a helper with the family. He joined right in with Jackson, Noah, Brantley and Josh as they swept and raked and worked together!

 We had 30 family members here for Thanksgiving with 3 guests adding to our special day. That is one thing that Pete and I always made sure the family knew…anyone who needed a family was welcome at our table on Thanksgiving! Even though I knew this year would be harder emotionally for all of us, I made sure the family knew that the door was still wide open to all guests!  One of our guests was a dear high school friend of Brantley’s; our other two guests were international grad students at USC who were befriended by Jackie. They were from Pakistan and Senegal…and they were Muslim. What a joy it was to my heart to have them with us as it just seemed like another part of Pete’s mission heart was shared at our table this year.

 Each year, we have a family tradition of sharing one thing we are most thankful for over the past year. I think the family regretted that I started the sharing time because (through tears) I said I was most thankful for Pete and his life and the gift of our marriage for so many years! As we went around the circle sharing, I noticed that thankfulness for family and/or the Lord was on almost every heart and often that thanks was accompanied with a tear or two! I think all of us realized that God has given us such a gift of salvation through His Son and through the gifts of family and love…and that is what is most important in life…not income or “stuff” that we collect. Our family has experienced the finality of life on this earth this year…when Pete left, he didn’t take anything with him except the love of the Lord and our love. It made the verse in Psalm 100 even more real… “Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we are His! “ Pete’s “stuff” is still here but Pete’s soul, the part of him who is "really Pete", is in heaven with His Savior! We are so thankful for knowing that and it brings us great joy and comfort! As Peter said during his sharing time, "We are thankful that Pop is looking into the eyes of His Savior today!" 

Our new international friends have each been in America for 3 years but this is the first American home they have been in for Thanksgiving! They both said how thankful they were to have experienced an “American Thanksgiving”! We laughed as we told them that if they can enjoy the craziness of our big family, the crowded kitchen, flour flying as biscuits are being made, turkey being cut at the last minute, everyone pitching in to keep hot dishes hot and cold dishes cold, squeezing in together to make enough room for everyone, and stuffing yourself until you cannot eat another bite – then you have truly experienced a typical American Thanksgiving! I think deliberately inviting international guests will be a new part of our family Thanksgiving from now on…We hope the prayer that was lifted to the Lord before we ate as well as the fellowship and friendships they enjoyed will open a door to their hearts to want to know more about this Jesus we love.

Thanksgiving was a hard day emotionally…but a sweet one, too. It was good to be with family but we all missed Pete and his presence with us so much! We will always be thankful for his love and his joy in our family…and that is something that will never disappear!

During this holiday season, I want to encourage you cherish your family even more than usual….enjoy every moment with them! Don’t sweat the “stuff”…appreciate the love and joy of family and enjoy making memories with them! Reach out to others...especially those who don't know Jesus! Worship the Lord every day! He is so worth it!! He deserves our love and our praise! Time is way too short on this earth and you never know when things will change! 

“Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”

Thank you, Lord, for reminding me

 through this tradition of Thanksgiving in our country

 that I need to be truly thankful most of all for You...

through good times and hard times!!