Celebrating Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4 is a good indicator of the entire 100^th Psalm.  In this verse David tells us to,

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

 and into his courts with praise:
 be thankful unto him,
 and bless his name.” (KJV)

One of the obvious things that comes to my mind as I have been studying this Psalm is that it is all about the yielding of our full attention to God.  It is all about giving and not getting… and carries the implication that it is an enjoyable undertaking! 

 

As I pondered this in line with today’s celebration of Thanksgiving, I was drawn back to one of my favorite memories of family Thanksgivings when I was a child.  The vivid sights, sounds and smells of that special time in my Grandparents little home filled my thoughts.  I can still see the steamy windows, smell the turkey roasting in the oven, and almost feel the excitement that filled the home.  But most of all, it was my Grandmother’s smiling face as she puttered around her place of heaven on earth, that was her kitchen!

Then there was my Grandpa’s laugh and his encouraging words, and the merriment and chatter that freely flowed between all the cousins.  At that time it seemed like we had entered an enchanted world.  When you were there it was liked being saturated with happiness and the warmth of unconditional love that only our Grandparents could heap upon us!

To me, that is how it must also be in the presence of our loving heavenly Father!  That is why we can’t help but enter into His gates with hearts and lips filled with a song of thanksgiving, praise and blessing.  In His house there is life that flows abundantly!

In my thoughts this morning I also dwelt on that first New England Thanksgiving that was held in 1621.  In reality, that first Thanksgiving was a celebration of life.  As survivors of that terrible first winter, the Pilgrims were thankful for the past and hopeful for their future.  And even though they celebrated with the Indians who had helped them and with their family and friends who were left among the living, their focus was clearly on their God who had faithfully seen them though!

These individuals were survivors.  They had chosen life and had made it successfully through their first rough challenges in the new world. Their decision for life and their experience of that first dreadful winter was but fuel for the fire that burned within them.  They knew that with God, they could do anything!  (See: Philippians 4:13)

In Deuteronomy 30:19 Moses told the people, “that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (KJV)  He told them that they had to make a decision, and then he gave them a helpful hint as to which way to choose!

As you celebrate this day of Thanksgiving, I would encourage you to decide for yourself which way you will choose this coming year.  When you choose life, you choose to enter into God’s presence… into the place where He abides.  It’s a place that I am sure is just like my Grandparent’s old home that was filled with unconditional love, where you felt safe and special and came away from feeling like you could accomplish anything!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

PS:  Don't Forget... On Monday we start our 2013 Advent Calendar!