Turkey Day

Turkey Day, does this depiction of Thanksgiving pluck anyone else’s nerves like it does mine? I hope it does. Why do all of our holidays end up so far from their original meanings? Easter turns into a day celebrating a bunny that lays eggs instead of a day remembering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; Christmas has went from a day acknowledging Immanuel (God taking the form of a mortal body to be with us) to a day where people expect gifts under a tree in their living room; and Thanksgiving, a day so filled with meaning, has turned into Turkey Day – Football game watching day – and perhaps the biggest, the day before Black Friday. How many people truly reminisce all that they are thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving? I have a suspicion that more people complain during this time of year then any other and yet it is suppose to be a day to be thankful.

Let us entertain the idea that there is much to be unthankful for. Long lines in grocery stores trying to buy food for all of our family that many of you do not really want to spend time with anyways. Bumper to bumper traffic in a car that continually costs more and more to fuel up; your annoying in-laws or siblings, overcooked turkey, having to work on the holidays and let us not forget all the annoying people you will be running into on Black Friday that are in your way taking the last item that you had to have to give to a family member (that you probably only talk to during this time of year) for Christmas. So much to grumble about during this holiday season, is there anything to be thankful for at all? I think I just made a list of many of the things to be thankful for.

You have money and means to go to the grocery store to buy food for your family, while not perfect (no family is perfect) it is still uniquely yours. A car that gets you from place to place and money to put gas in that vehicle, your in-laws and siblings (I am sure if you try really, really hard you can find much to be thankful for with them-even your in-law who fills their plate then comfortably positions themselves on your couch watching a football game on your TV while you clean up the left overs) the overcooked turkey that was provided to you; true it may be a little dry but we can’t all be Emeril. Maybe you are stuck at work for the holiday while your extended family is sitting in your home (yet another thing to be thankful for) eating your food and watching your TV but you do have a job, something that not everyone can say. And to those of you who are working (Police, Fire, Hospital employees, Food Service, and the biggest of all our TROOPS) I am thankful for you and I want you to know that I appreciate your service and the time you are spending away from your family to serve your community and your country – Thank you. And you have something to be thankful for as well, while you may not like having to spend your holiday in a Police car, Fire Dept, Hospital or another country you are employed which many people cannot say. You even have something to be thankful for when you missed out on a great sale because the old smelly person, or young rude kid grabbed the last item on display; you have the means and money to be out shopping for yet another holiday that you have likely forgotten the true meaning of.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for when you look at it through a different set of eyes. If you are reading this you can even be thankful for a computer and Internet access. But what if you have no money, no car; no family, no TV, no house, no food, no job and you have accessed this through an Internet café or public library. What do you have to be thankful for? You may have more to be thankful then you realize. I could say that you have your health, but you may have just gotten news that you only have a few months to live. You are alive, I think that would be a safe assumption as you are reading this but you may not be thankful for that and you may even wish you weren’t alive. So what is there to be thankful for if you are in this situation? If you are a child of God you have more to be thankful for then someone who is not His child but does have a job, food, car, house, and health and so on. Your current situation may seem bleak but God sacrificed Himself for you when none of us deserved it. No matter the baggage of your past or your current situation you can be thankful that God has given you eternal life. One of the first known Thanksgiving feasts that we know of in America was celebrated by a bunch of people who left their homes for an unknown and dangerous place and many of their friends and family did not make it through even the first winter. And yet they celebrated Thanksgiving. They celebrated for what they had even though the list of what they didn’t have was much longer. What can we learn from this Thanksgiving?

I had the privilege of delivering food baskets, distributed through my church, to people in need, some which thought they would not be having a Thanksgiving feast at all. Through this I was touched more then those who received the baskets. I remember one family in particular. They lived in a single wide trailer with busted windows and rags attempting to stop the harsh wind from entering their “home”. They had two small dogs which looked like overgrown rats (actually they may have been rats) and one of the family members was on oxygen. Not much to be thankful for at all and yet they were smiling and shouted out a big “Praise the Lord” when we delivered a basket of food that will get them through one meal. No, you may not have a fancy car, big house, flat screen TV, a job or even food but that doesn’t meant that you cannot be thankful for that which you do have – no matter how little.

Maybe you have much to be thankful for but for some reason you aren’t. If that is the case maybe you are looking for peace and joy in all the wrong places. Why can someone who has nothing (at least in the world’s standards) be so joyful and thankful while someone who has the world is so negative and unthankful? Perhaps it is your soul that bankrupt, jobless and desperate for something else. John 10:10 says that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV) Do you have life to the full? If not then perhaps what is missing is not money or possessions but maybe you are missing He who came to give life. Maybe it is time to reach out for something that truly matters, something that will last through times of need and times of blessing. Is it time for you to take up your cross and follow Christ?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.