Cassie“Over Christmas? Really?”
That’s usually the reaction I get when I tell someone that Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday.
But in my house, it’s the same every year.
My mom makes the most amazing turkey dinner on the planet, for one thing.
And the smell of it reminds of all different seasons of my life.
Seasons running home from school excitedly with hand-traced turkey crafts, “What I’m Thankful For” cards, and pumpkin pictures.
Seasons marking on the calendar when the pumpkins were to be picked and carved, and seasons chattering with my Oma and Opa about what Id learned in school.
Seasons crying in front of my meal, so sick with anorexia that I didn’t know how to be thankful for food let alone eat it.
Seasons of healing and growth, of “coming home” for Thanksgiving, of dreaming about hosting my own one day.
None more thankful than I am this year. In my last year of university, paying bills and cooking and working and trying to get the grades. I am more thankful than ever for parents I have that have loved and shaped me in many ways, and the people in my life today.
I am feeling restful. Sick with a second brutal cold of the year, I’m recognizing sufficiency in God’s Grace and timing and guidance. Trusting that He has me in the palm of His hand. Glimpsing my own imperfection, error, and downfalls more and more. Realizing more with each passing moment how much I need my God… thus, at the same time, realizing it less, because coming to know it more means becoming more aware of how undeserving I am. It makes no earthly sense that He is the lover He is.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B6BRS2WlhoY
I am thankful today for Jesus, and the fact that He is Life and He is Love.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever Psalm 136:1
I am thankful that He has given me the most wonderful man to love and be loved by. I am even thankful for the long distance that challenges us and strengthens us.
I am thankful for my beautiful parents and sisters, and the ways they have challenged me, loved me unconditionally, and taught me.
I am thankful for friends who are loyal, funny, and compassionate, and friends who double as God-fearing, fiercely loving sister-roomies.
I am thankful for each and every short day on this earth, and days loved for the purpose of my unfathomable Creator Jesus. Would I actually know the weight of this, Lord, and live, by Your grace, like it’s true.
So I guess Thanksgiving is my favourite because it’s a reminder of the fact that that I’m meant to give thanks and praise to my God. To never cease in singing His praise. To know that, in different seasons, His love band very personhood has never changed, never faltered, never lessened. I can look back and look forward, and I know it’s Jesus who remains constant.
Thanks be to God!
