Thankfulness takes preparation

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s a Thanksgiving blog for the 5 minutes you have to sit down all day. Be a little introspective, and then get back up and baste that turkey.

If you’re a mom, cook, chef, or house servant, you will be on your feet all day. I’ve spent the last few days on my feet in the kitchen, the grocery story (way too many times!), and again this morning to thaw my fresh turkey.

Yes, I paid the extra money for a fresh turkey so I wouldn’t have this issue, and what do you know? My basement fridge froze his hind-parts anyway. So Mr. Turkey had a hot tub experience that I hope he appreciated. More on my usual turkey faux-pas here.

I just finished baking a few dozen more cookies. Because that’s what you need after two helpings of Thanksgiving dinner and a few pieces of pie. My kids like cookies. Yes, they’re adults, but they still like cookies. I even mixed Eagles-green icing for the football-shaped sugar cookies (I cut out leaves, pumpkins, and turkeys, too). So I hope someone notices. I won’t win any cookie-decorating awards, but that’s okay with me.

I’m writing because I’m thankful. The preparation for the big meal has worked in me the process of becoming thankful for everything. My house is quiet from sleeping men who think Thanksgiving dinners magically appear. And even though we always throw away extra stuffing, I have another pan of stuffing in the oven right now, just in case. You understand. Ten side dishes might not be enough for a dozen people. I’ve set the table with my mother and grandmother’s things, as well as my own. I’ve used their recipes. I’m excited for my family to arrive.

Well, actually, I don’t know how many are coming for dinner. Covid decided to pay us a visit this week, and we’ve got two people who are borderline “cured” and another family who probably wisely bowed out of coming but will drive by for their made-to-order meal. My table is set in hopeful anticipation that everyone will be healthy and symptom-free today.

I’ll be really thankful for that. I’ll be thankful for everyone, however I can enjoy them.A

I’m thankful for my family. My kids, their wives, my in-laws, my extended family. My husband, who’s alive and courageous, against all odds.

I’m thankful for my childhood, my mother, and my grandparents. Today my table and my menu is full of their memory. When I prepare and partake, I will do it with them, as if they still sit beside me and blush at the compliments.

I’m thankful for a year of healing, loving, and living. I’m thankful for a God who forgives my hypocrisy and selfishness when I confess it, even though it’s always present, and I’m always having to address it.

I’m thankful for a free country, even though we’ve got some huge messes on our hands.

I’m thankful for my church, the resiliency of God’s people, and the relentless pursuit of the Holy Spirit to change us, save us, and inspire us.

I’m thankful for a thousand amazing things that I should remember every day when I wake up tired and grumpy.

Thank you, Lord. For everything, but mostly for YOU.

Thankfulness takes preparation. It takes conscious moments and intentional observances. it takes considering how things could be and how they actually are. It takes time. Here are some prayers of thanksgiving to help you reorient.

Thanks, hope, and overcoming sadness

Thanks in all things

A Thanksgiving prayer

A prayer of thanksgiving

Make me a blessing today 

If you’re looking for a great book to help you grow in your prayers of thanksgiving, I highly recommend this Selah Award-winning book, Soulspeak: Praying Change into Unexpected Places. You can find it on basically any book website like Amazon or our local Christian bookstore in Richmond (Redemption Books).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I wish you an astoundingly beautiful day.