I am pretty excited for Thanksgiving. I love this holiday because it is a deliberate reminder for us to give thanks, but also to have a grand feast and celebrate joyously with our family and friends.

This year my sister invited all of her side of the family and all of her husband’s side of the family to celebrate at their house. We believe there will be about 40 of us. Can you imagine!

For one, there will be tons and tons of food. I can see it now. Two deliciously golden turkeys, fluffy whipped mashed potatoes, piping hot green bean casserole, buttery rolls, crispy yet moist stuffing, and pies. Oh, the pies. Pumpkin of course, apple I’m sure, chocolate cream, banana cream, and a holiday tradition made especially for me by my mother, a tollhouse pie, which is really just a big chocolate chip cookie in a buttery flaky pie shell. And tons and tons of sides. My mouth is watering already.

Of course, the house will be filled with laughter and conversation. I just love to laugh. I love those laughs where it makes your whole belly constrict, and your eyes stream out tears, and you can’t breathe because it’s just too funny. It’s the best feeling. The house will be warm and cozy with all of us together sharing stories, gasping in delight, and just truly enjoying one another’s company. 

And there will be many thanks to give to God. With 40 of us it might take all night lol! 🙂 We are truly a blessed family to be able to gather with one another and eat like kings for a day. We are truly blessed to be living in a country where we are free to worship God. Where we as women can come and go anywhere in our country, alone. Where we can celebrate another joyous day God has given us and another day closer to being with him in eternity. Can you even begin to comprehend how truly blessed we are? I sometimes take it for granted and have to remind myself on days like Thanksgiving that God is so faithful to us. How awesome it is to celebrate our blessings and give thanks to the one who deserves it all, our heavenly father God.

I really want to be intentional about basking in the joy of this holiday. I want to immerse myself in God’s love, in my family’s love, and just truly be saturated in peace. I want to sing, and shout, and feast, and hug, and laugh, and be playful, and appreciate one another. I want to be thankful for all things. Even things that might not look good now, but God may have a plan for down the road. I want to be infused into all of the feelings, all of the moments, all of the experiences of the day. I want to soak in the joy that is Thanksgiving. 

I was reading about King Hezekiah today, and I felt an inspiration from his story and how the people came back to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover. You see, back in the days of the Kings of Judah and Israel, the track record for following God wasn’t too good. There were many evil Kings, there were also some good Kings (notice I said good and not perfect lol). Hezekiah was one of the good kings, and he brought back the national holiday of Passover so that his nation would celebrate it again and remember the goodness of God. And boy did they celebrate.

“And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord. And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the Lord. So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness… So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.” 2 Chronicles 30:21-27 ESV

So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 30:26

Can you imagine? A huge city, filled with people, all praising the Lord, singing to him, eating feasts, and just truly enjoying the moment, enjoying the blessings from the Lord. And it was so incredible that they continued on for another 7 days! 14 full days of merriment! Wow, it just explodes my brain, it fills my heart that things like this are possible! That real people lived this blows my mind! 

Can you see now, how I feel about this coming Thanksgiving. Can you yourself truly be immersed in a whole day of rejoicing and praising God for his blessings. Can you let yourself for one day stop thinking about what may bog you down, what may make you cringe, what may make you feel unworthy, and just be thankful? Relish in these blessings from God, thank him, tell him you love him, and then just celebrate!!

 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matthew 16:26