The time has come to start preparing The Feast. I get very excited about it all, and I love thinking over what the next few days will include, sorting out who will make which pies, and how I will keep the grandkids occupied while their parents are still over in Merry Ol’ England. Today was easy because God sent a beautiful load of snow and the afternoon was spent sliding and rolling around in it (not me, but the kids) until it was almost dark outside. But I digress.
Today my husband preached a Thanksgiving sermon, and I sat in a different row than usual with my five Merkle grandchildren. Funny how being in a different seat can change the whole experience. The kids were great, I got to sit behind the Wilson family grandkids, and I have always wanted to be over there with them all during the Lord’s Supper, so it was sweet indeed. (The Janks were somewhere in the back and I didn’t get a peep at them until after the service when all the grandkids make a bee-line for Doug to give him a hug, and then a bee-line for me because I have the treats in my purse to hand out.) But there I go digressing again.
The point of the sermon was very applicable to all of us who will be putting on our battle gear in the kitchen tomorrow and the next day and the next until the Great Feast Day. He was speaking about rejoicing in the evil day, and how our days are just as evil (or almost) as the evil days Paul was speaking of in Ephesians 5:16 where we are exhorted to redeem the time (verse 16). The verses following (in this context of evil days) include verse 19 where we are told to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 20).
So when our president and our congress are doing evil things (which they are) and we see our country circling the drain (which it is), and we wonder what we are supposed to do in such evil times, then here are our marching orders: throw a big party to thank Him for all things.
My husband pointed out that we are not to fight for Thanksgiving but with Thanksgiving. He said something like this: Pull your thanksgiving out of the scabbard and start fighting with it. How do we fight the horrible things that are happening in our country? By sitting down around our tables and thanking God: thanking Him with the wine and the turkey and the mashed potatoes and the pies. (I’m afraid my husband mentioned the pies quite a few times.)
What a good way to fight. This is something we know how to do. And those of us in the kitchen should put on our aprons with a good will and get our thanksgiving out of the scabbard and have at it. God loves it when we feast before Him, rejoicing in His goodness and glory.
So go to it ladies! And have a very blessed Thanksgiving.
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Thanks for this post! You made me laugh when you mentioned Pastor Wilson mentioning the pies.
Thank you for giving me the picture of fighting with my thanksgiving. That’s just what I’ll do, with God’s help.
Thanks so much for the encouraging new perspective on Thanksgiving… can’t wait to pass this along!
I’m hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year… thanks for the encouragement!
We were going to have two separate tables in two separate rooms because the 20 of us (both our families are joining us) wouldn’t all fit in the kitchen around our usual table, but that didn’t sound ideal…so now we’re planning to completely empty out our office and push two big borrowed folding tables together in there. Whew! It sounds a bit crazy, but I remembered reading somewhere you were talking about going up and down stairs for days before Christmas (?) dinner, so everyone could be around one table, so we’re going to give it a try as well! 🙂
Mrs. Wilson, I love the digressing the best! Hearing about all those grandkids just makes me smile! I will however make great use of hearing about Mr. Wilson’s sermon. It is so easy to get discouraged about our country. It helps to know that all of this isn’t new. Paul experienced evil times also. It also helps to know what to do at times like this. Thanks to Mr. Wilson for the instruction straight from the God’s word! Thanks to you for sharing!
My 14 year old daughter and I drove many hours in the car this weekend and we listened to your CD’s called “Keep It Simple”. What a great blessing it was to us!
I loved this! The idea of fighting with our aprons is so lovely…just call me Jael with a rolling pin. Thank you for the reminder of the importance of being faithful in our battle stations and the hope of victory because God is faithful to His promises.
Wonderful post and very timely. Just when I’m starting to wonder whether or not I’m completely nuts to be planning a big feast for the two of us I pop over here and get all the encouragement I need 😀 If pans in the oven can help us in the fray, then I’m marshaling a small battalion out here in Cali.
Thank-you very much!!!
On the way home, in the car we all agreed that “fighting with pumpkin pie” was the best quote of the morning. What great exhortation!
Hmmm… Our pastor mentions pies a lot too. Do yo think it is a pastor thing?
I’m going to have to see what I can do to access that sermon.
I’ve been armed with a variety of things, but this will be my first time being armed with an apron.
Tally Ho!
My only disagreement is about the pies. Not that pies aren’t OK, but if he’d mentioned stuffing several times, then he’d have it juuuuuust right. 😉
Love this!
Thank so much!
Off to put on my apron and fight!
For the past two weeks I’ve been dwelling on how thankful I am that we are not gnostics, that we can enjoy the physical without sacrificing the spiritual– especially in the kitchen! 😀
I’m with you Valerie -this whole fandango over here started because I was seriously missing Mom’s cornbread dressing 😀
Amen! and Happy Thanksgiving!
love it love it love it…
You are such a wonderful encourager. Your joy and vigor about our (womanly) work is so inspiring. I’m exhausted tonight (Thanksgiving eve.) yet this helps me want to burst out of bed at the crack of dawn (fortunately that’s not til about 7 here–unfortunately the turkey needs to somehow get into the oven before then) and finish well.
Fighting with Thanksgiving… I’m sorry I missed the sermon.
We’re definitely using our pie skills this year – there are 6 of those round delights on the wood cookstove this morning, and I think we had 10 at my grandma’s house on Sunday for our 1st celebration of the week. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to the Wilsons!
Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to all the Wilsons! Y’all have been a tremendous blessing to our family. We are so grateful for all the wisdom and joy(!) that you share.
I followed the above advice, and we had a jubilant Thanksgiving! God bless you!