hatchcreek.com Bible blog

It’s that time of year again.  I’ve noticed lately that some people say, “happy turkey day!” instead of “happy thanksgiving!”  Have you noticed that?  At first I didn’t think too much about it and kind of thought it was cool, but then I gave it another thought.  Is thanksgiving just a time of getting together with friends and family and gorging ourselves with all the delicious goodies on the table until we feel more stuffed than the turkey?  After that we waddle off to the family room to watch football the rest of the day until our eye balls just about fall out of our heads?  Is that what it is about?  That must be “turkey day!”

I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, so Thanksgiving was more of a family gathering where we did enjoy all the wonderful food my mom and aunts prepared.  It was fun having all the company and playing with my cousins in the afternoon.  We didn’t have television so the conversation was around the deer hunting stories the men told.  It was a fun time that’s for sure.  Also, in school we were told about the pilgrims and how they celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Indians and gave thanks to God for the bounty.  That’s about all I knew about it.

By the way, if you are thankful, who are you thankful too?  Are you thankful to your boss for giving you a good job so you can have that shiny new car in the drive?  Are you thankful to your wife for preparing a wonderful meal?  We need to check our thanksgiving and see who we are thankful too.  We can be thankful to our bosses and spouses, but above all we need to be thankful to God who supplies all our needs, and gives us all things to enjoy.  God is above all else.  He is the one who put it on your bosses heart to hire you.  He is the one gave you the ability to do your job.  He is to get all the thanks and glory!

Later in life I became a Christian and Thanksgiving now has new meaning for me.  Yes, I am thankful and for so much.  I am thankful that God saved me from myself and gave me a new life in Christ.  I am thankful for being adopted into God’s family.  I am thankful for the Word of God and all that it has meant to me from that time on.  Yes, I have a true Thanksgiving because I am thankful to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:18  in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.