Thanksgiving For Two, 2020

Preparing “Thanksgiving for Two”, my bride and I have enjoyed digging through recipes for old forgotten and mostly handwritten favorites. Instead of sharing the responsibility with others, 2020 is creating a unique experience!

There’s been some discussion of penmanship… who writes anymore? I’m even looking through my grandmother’s recipe box from the ’70s! Much scribbling!

We may have a solo guest, but cooking for two is simple. what do we like…😇 That’s the menu!

Let’s see..

• Turkey
• Cornbread stuffing
• Deviled eggs
• Green bean casserole
• A cob of corn, bit of broccoli and carrots, steamed to perfection
• Pies – pecan and chocolate
• Ice tea

I see leftovers staring me in the face for several days!

In younger times we would have lunch with one part of the family, and dinner with another. Long tables in crowded spaces! Passing dishes all over the place! Joint cleaning duties. Catching up with Family Ties.

The Meaning of Thanksgiving

For there to be a successful time of thanksgiving, and from the psalms meant for thanksgiving, David says it simply.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
(Psalms 100:4 NKJV)

Notice two operations at work…

Enter… It’s our job to get up and go! Whether a place, space or time, we are responsible for our connection to the action of giving thanks.

Be… It’s that state of being that is not faked. Being thankful means I recognize all the things I should be thankful for, and for all the things I am expressing, my thanks for.

The words for thanksgiving and thanks relate to an expression with the hands. They have nothing to do with the purpose of celebrating on the 4th Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving, from purely scriptural actions, involves lifting our hands. Up. Praising. Worshipping. Joined voices sharing the moment together. Some do it one at a time around the table, but couldn’t this have more spiritual connotations than simply stating something trite?

To truly enjoy a season of thanksgiving, we must begin it within. Not to a person, although there are many we are thankful for. Nor for a specific menu, although we are culturally adapted to this particular season with specific foods. Rather, thanksgiving is something we present to God. Enter into the place, space and time. Be thankful!

That’s my perspective. It develops my attitude. Thus, my actions are responsive to that internal and eternal feeling.

I’m Reminded

It’s often easier to sing our thanks than to speak them. Equally, it’s usually offered by someone who has performed a song that matches our attitude. From Andrae Crouch singing “My Tribute”, to all those Gaither video performances we seem to enjoy so much, and through those early years of contemporary worship groups, I dig back through the decades and remember a simple song.

Thanks. Thanks. I give you thanks. For all you’ve done. I am so blest. My soul has found rest. Oh Lord. I give you thanks.