Spring 2023 has sprung in Broken Arrow, OK

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thanksgiving Memories...

I think the fondest memory that I have of Thanksgiving as a child was the time spent at my maternal Grandparent’s house in the late 1950’s.  At that time my Grandparents lived in a quant two bedroom one bath home, three houses down from Santa Rosa’s first major shopping center that deviated away from the downtown area that the builder, Hugh Codding called Montgomery Village.  It was named in honor of Billy Montgomery who was the first solder from our city to be killed in WWII.  I have many wonderful memories of that house and that special Thanksgiving Day many years past seems to epitomize them all.

Like it was yesterday, I can picture standing on the porch with my family, knocking on the door and highly anticipating the fun time that awaited me.  As door was opened the over-powering fragrance of the large turkey that was roasting in the oven wafted through my senses creating euphoria that only an exited little kid can feel!  The big picture window in the small living room was fogged up from all the cooking, and the room radiated with the love that oozed from the hearts of my smiling Grandparents who openly embraced us with hugs and kisses!
 
Whenever I walked into that home I felt secure in the knowledge of the love that was there.  It was a place where I could just be me.  My younger cousin was recently reminding of the times we would play games with our very patient Grandfather who would feign being asleep while we messed up his hair or put cream on his face!  That home was a place where I knew that I was accepted for who I was and was heaped with unconditional love.  While I don’t recall too many more of the details of that Thanksgiving, those feelings that I felt as we walked into that happy place have permanently etched a lasting spot in my heart.  It is a feeling that my wife and I always strived to have in our home as our children grew up.

Philippians 4:6-7 says “In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” (American Standard Version)  The Apostle is telling us that our prayers offered to our heavenly Father when combined with our grateful thanks will result in God’s peace guarding our thoughts and emotions.  I think that indescribable peace is like what I experienced in my Grandparent’s home every time I was there. Another unreferenced translation that I was reading in our study this morning describes it as “the peace of God that beggars description (that sense knowledge can’t understand) shall garrison as with a company of solders your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”

That thankfulness that flows from our hearts after we have turned all of our cares upon Him and rest totally secure in that care is what I want to celebrate with great joy this Thanksgiving!  I believe that is the true essence of the original Thanksgiving celebration.  Those who honored God back in 1621 were thankful for the peace and security that the plenteous and successful harvest would afford them as the harsh winter season was drawing near.  That winter would be a time of life and not death as the previous winter had been.  It gave them a hope that their dreams of abundant freedom and life in the new world would be fulfilled in the years ahead.

I would encourage you as you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with family and friends to let it also be a time where you can thank our Heavenly Father for the successful harvest in your own lives, and like those first settlers, give you a lasting hope and expectation of His provision for you in your years to come!  Like me as a child entering into the love, joy and peace of my Grandparent’s home, let that first whiff of the Thanksgiving turkey roasting in the oven fill you with the euphoria of His love and then spread that feeling throughout the Holiday Season ahead.  Have a great Thanksgiving!  We’ll see you back here again on Friday!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

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