Stop for a minute and think about what Thanksgiving means to you and how you celebrate it. Are your images of the ‘traditional – Norman Rockwell’ thanksgiving? Are they of your first thanksgiving away from your family? First time with your significant other? Going to a school event/pageant/play to see your child(ren) act out scenes from the first Thanksgiving? Spending the day watching football games? Serving meals at a homeless shelter? Vacationing with family and trying to find a place to have Thanksgiving dinner?
I have images of some of these going through my brain. Being at my grandparent’s farmhouse and sitting down to a traditional Thanksgiving feast with Food - turkey, ham, vegetables that had been canned from our garden, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, homemade stuffing and gravy, my grandmother’s homemade buttermilk biscuits; Family – a multi-generational gathering around their table with the children delegated to the kitchen table with all the delicious smells of baked pies – pumpkin, apple, brown sugar (for the non-southerners, it is like a chess pie) and Friends – always two or three friends of my grandparents or my parents. The image of my first Thanksgiving cooking for myself and Ken while in graduate school and didn’t have the time to travel home. My first attempt at making a turkey in our small apartment stove. I didn’t burn it or undercook it but I forgot to take out the bag of giblets. Another recollection is the image of Ken, myself, and our kids vacationing in Orlando and having left to go to the east coast of Florida we ended up having our Thanksgiving dinner at Denny’s. A fun memory.
I am sure all of you have a story about one of your Thanksgivings. Spending time with family and friends can be special. We can cheer on our favorite football teams (and this year our national soccer teams) or watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade with our youngest family members waiting for the next huge balloon to come down the street. Not to mention the food.
But there is more to what this day should mean to us than family, food, and friends. How do we reach out to those who are not as fortunate as we are? Yes, we gathered the ingredients for a Thanksgiving dinner and brought them to church so they could be distributed to forty-four families that wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving dinner to build memories on. Can we share our time with others on Thanksgiving day to serve a hot meal or sit and visit with someone who is alone or shut in? Can we offer up a prayer of thanksgiving as we sit down at our table and ask God not only to bless our food but also to help us remember that what we are and what we have are through his grace and his love for us?
Remember on Thanksgiving, to ask yourself “What I am truly thankful for” and then ask God to help you to share your gifts (time, talent, and treasure) with those who are less fortunate. But we shouldn’t only have these prayers of thanksgiving on our “Turkey Day” but throughout the year.
I know that I am thankful for all of you! Have a blessed Thanksgiving day this year.
Yours in Christ,
Denise Krallman