This holiday shares it's focus in most American families with the food that is served and the football that is played or watched...but it really is about giving thanks...it's how the whole thing got started to begin with...giving thanks to the Giver for provision and protection.
I have implemented various tools in my family over the last couple of decades to keep our focus on the true meaning of the holiday...I have written specific things that I am thankful for about each of my dinner guest next to their names on their place cards...I have tucked Bible verses about giving thanks into napkin rings on the dinner table and I have asked guest to share what they are most thankful for between the turkey and pumpkin pie.
The one thanksgiving tool that I am most pleased with, however, is one that is not just reserved for a specific Thursday in November...it's one that my family has used on a much more consistent basis.
Years ago when the Joyster and Lopey were just little blue-eyed, freckle faced girls their daddy got sick...very sick...like when the doctor comes and tells you to 'get your affairs in order' sick. The doctor's prognosis was grim...but God had other plans for the Man. He worked his way out of ICU to PCU to a bed on 'regular' floor of the hospital...to his bed at home - hooked up to an IV that I had to run and monitor (eek)...which in an of itself is quite the story...for another time.
It was a scary time for the girls...not only did they have to watch their big strong daddy decline and struggle to hold on...but they were told things like they would never be able to wrestle with daddy again or run and jump into his arms without warning even when he got better (one little misplaced elbow or knee would have easily caused internal damage that could have been fatal).
These little girls started asking 'why?'...why did their daddy have to be sick when their friends daddy's weren't...why couldn't they play with daddy...why was this so hard and why couldn't things go back like they were before.
Their mommy started asking 'why?' too...I had made the covenant that would stand the test of sickness with the Lord's help...but these innocent little girls hadn't signed up for any of this and they needed their daddy...what was I to do?
The night that I spent crying out my 'whys' before the Lord became a spiritual marker in my life as God invaded that time and space with His presence and began yet another season of deep growth in me...and it was out of that night that our family Thankful Journal was born.
I felt the Lord prompting me to start focusing the girls (and myself) on all the blessings that each day held...instead of focusing on the scary and hard reality of my man's health crisis. And so it began...
Each morning at the breakfast table I would remind the girls that their day would be full of blessings from their heavenly Father...ways that He would show them that He loved them and was taking care of them in the midst of this storm. It was their job to look for the blessings and report them to me at the end of the day. Each family member had to bring at least one blessing to share at devotion time each night.
After dinner and before bed we began the tradition of sitting together with a journal sharing and recording "What we thank God for today" as part of our evening devotions. We had all kinds of things pop up during those times...from the big (thankful for medicine to help daddy feel better)...to the seemingly insignificant (hot dogs, warm socks, jump ropes).
Our Thankful Journal taught us all to focus on the blessing and not the crisis...it helped us to focus in on the goodness of God that is around us all the time...reflected in the faces of friends, sunrises, and a roof over our heads. It taught us to pause, not just once a year, to be thankful for His provision and protection but every day.
Our Thankful Journals have become our family history book of sorts. As I look back over the years some of the entries bring me to tears...others totally crack me up...they all speak of the Faithfulness of our Father in whatever season of life we find ourselves in.
With the oldest away at college this is not something that we do formally as a family unit every night...we limit our recordings to Sunday's when she joins us for dinner after church...but we all still start the day as detectives - looking past the stress and struggles that come with even everyday life - for the clues (some blatant, others sneaky) that God is actively involved in our lives and worthy of our thankfulness and praise.
So, don't wait until the 4th Thursday of this month to tell the Lord how blessed you are by His presence, provision and protection - grab a journal...any kind will do and create a family legacy of His goodness in your life.
Thanking Him with you,
~Michelle...ApronGirl
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