You Go Thanksgiving!

This is a big week. Thursday we gather with family and turkey, (or a family full of turkeys) to celebrate all our blessings and then right away on Sunday we begin the season of Advent when we start to prepare for and anticipate the greatest blessing of all, the birth of Jesus.

I have always felt really sorry for Thanksgiving. It’s like the younger sibling of an overachieving, super popular, glitz and glamor older sibling. It’s always in the shadow of Christmas. Or like the middle child, between Halloween and Christmas. It gets lost in the shuffle. The stores seem to go right from ghouls and goblins to garland and skip over the gravy and gratitude.

Of course every day should be a day of thanksgiving but how often is it? I was reminded this week of the saying that has always been very convicting. What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things that you gave thanks for today?

I wouldn’t wake up. I never think to thank God for each breath but that is the depth to which our gratitude should take us. Think small, think mundane, think of those things you take for granted. There is so much to be thankful for when we really try.

One of the things I am most grateful for is you. Whoever you are out there. To be able to share my stories, my questions, my ponderings and my passion for the Lord with you is one of the greatest blessings in my life. If I didn’t have you to connect with, I may have resorted to a bullhorn and a soapbox in the Food Court at the mall by now.

And I am so thankful for the women I get to see regularly at our Firstfruits home. To share life with. To share laughs with. To share the Lord with. I have learned so much from all of you. You have been a lifeline for me. Your encouragement and support have kept my head and my soul above water.

I’m looking forward to many more Thanksgivings with all of you. My prayer is that we grow closer to each other as we grow closer to the One who makes it all possible.

You can do me a big favor by sharing my blogs with others and sharing the good news of Firstfruits and our beautiful home with others, especially those who need a spiritual home right now. Those who need connection to someone bigger than themselves. Those who are thirsty for a reconnection to a faith life.  I would be so grateful.

And it will keep me out of the mall.

Joan