Happy Thanksgiving! On the 25th, we will once again take time to have our annual meal of thanks. Turkey, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Beans, Cranberry sauce, gravy, pies and a whole lot of other foods that we will consume and then head to the couch for football and turkey induced naps. In our house, we’ll wake up and eat some sweet rolls followed by a morning of the Macy’s parade and at some point Charlie Brown will make an appearance on the DVD player.I love Thanksgiving! Sure it’s marketed to us as a time to eat till our buttons pop off, but ultimately there is no overuse of this holiday. It’s a time to get together and a time to remember and be thankful. I pray that is true for each and every one of us – may we take time to say Thank You. Thank you to our family, our friends, our God for all blessings that we are given. I pray that it will be the perfect beginning to a season of thanks – an advent season of that spirit!
On Sunday we will begin the Advent season. You know Christmas isn’t just one day – I mean it is, but it’s also much more than that. Christians knew early on that the birth of Jesus needed to be celebrated. More than likely, Jesus wasn’t born on December the 25th, but it was chosen as a way for the newly converted to see Jesus in the pagan festivities of the “bleak mid-winter”. Advent celebrations began as a way to journey toward the manger – to fix our eyes upon the
hope that a baby in a manger brought to the world.
My good friend Rebecca Heid shared a devotion the other day and in it she used this phrase, “Advent is a time for Watching for Hope.” I like that a lot. In fact I can’t get away from it. What if we were to take this Advent season and rather than blur through them toward a huge gift exchange on the 25th, we actually used these weeks to watch for hope? What if we used Advent as a time to truly prepare for the HOPE of the world? What if we allowed Jesus to be more than just a thought during the next few weeks. What if He became the center of all of it – the movies, the gifts, the music, the parities – all of it! What if we watched for hope?
I pray that during our thanksgiving celebrations we would all take a pocket of time to think of what watching for HOPE might look like in our life? I pray you each know the depth and greatness of the LOVE of our amazing God – Happy Thanksgiving!
