Thanksgiving

Whoa! Whoa! Stop! Cut the music! Hang on-I’m not ready for Christmas music just yet. Are you guys ready for Christmas music? Now don’t get me wrong I love Christmas. I usually start my Christmas shopping early; say in January so that I can enjoy the excitement of the season w/out fighting the crowds at the mall. However, this year I haven’t even started my shopping yet & Thanksgiving is next week. So we can’t start celebrating the Christmas season just yet. You see, I’m focusing on Thanksgiving because I’m nowhere near ready for Christmas. And I’ve been thinking about how this little holiday is stuck between the fun of Halloween & the super-mega excitement of Christmas. Poor Thanksgiving often gets overlooked, bypassed as we hurry to prepare for Christmas. If it weren’t for turkey dinners & pumpkin pie we might just skip Thanksgiving all together. But Thanksgiving is an important holiday & so I am going to talk about Thanksgiving tonight. I’m sure most of you know the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving has to do w/the Pilgrims & Indians & the first meal they shared together. Well, good because that’s not what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to share w/you a different way of looking at Thanksgiving.
One of the reasons I don’t have any Christmas shopping done is because I broke my leg three weeks ago. I was bummed that I didn’t have a great story to explain how I broke my leg. I didn’t break it while skateboarding with my kids or snow skiing in Colorado or anything exciting. No, I broke it in my front yard. I slipped on some wet leaves and fell. My right leg twisted underneath me & I sat on it. What a plain, boring story. However, that’s not the whole story. It turns out my fall was the result of a bad choice I made. God has convinced me that I need to share the whole story of what happened that night. I am hesitant to share this w/you because I come out looking bad in this story & nobody likes to share a story where they look bad. But here goes-the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth. First, let me tell you that I am a very stubborn, independent perfectionist. (I’ll pause long enough for my husband & children to say AMEN to that!) I like things to be done a certain way, my way. And I expect things to be done on my timeline. I have high standards. Okay, having said that let’s get back to my story. Sunday night at our house is trash night & for some reason trash duty is a big dramatic ordeal. My pre-teen daughters are responsible for this chore, which is probably part of the reason it is such a dramatic ordeal. Well this particular Sunday my daughter was rather sloppy with her trash duty. She had missed some of the trash and some of the trash bags hadn’t been tied shut before she took them out to the curb. Feeling frustrated I went into my “should have done it myself” mode. I know that I have high standards that are hard to reach so I have this theory that if I want it done right I have to do it myself. But I know that is not a healthy attitude so I have been working on that, for at least ten years now. So I am frustrated w/my daughter & frustrated w/myself and now I have to go out in the pouring rain to take out the rest of the trash & take care of the open trash bags. A temper tantrum begins to emerge out of the frustration. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am really good at throwing a temper tantrum. So as a way of expressing my frustration I stomp to the front door and slam it behind me. I am stomping across the yard too full of anger & rage to notice the wet leaves underfoot until my left foot slides forward & I lose my balance. Suddenly I find myself twisted on the wet, muddy ground in great pain. So that’s the truth of what happened, my fall was the result of my choice to stomp off angry. And now I get to wear this ugly, heavy boot for at least 4 weeks. And God is using this broken leg & this ugly boot to teach me some important lessons. Some of which I am going to share w/you tonight.
The 1st lesson he taught me is that life is not about “ME”! Three things that can destroy a person are anger, pride & unforgiveness. 2 of those 3 things led me to break my leg. If I hadn’t been so full of self-pride then I wouldn’t have been angry w/my daughter & felt the need to take care of the trash myself & then I wouldn’t have stomped across the yard. Instead of focusing on myself I should have focused on teaching my daughter in a patient & loving manner. But I was more concerned w/getting the job done quickly & correctly. How many times do we think we can do it all by ourself w/out any help from anyone? And of course we can do it better than anyone else. You see this attitude is wrapped up in the idea that it’s all about me & focuses on self but that’s not what God wants us to focus on. I am learning the hard way that I can’t do it alone. I can’t drive myself to the store, I can’t carry the laundry downstairs to the washer, I can’t do a lot of things I usually do. I don’t like this. I am a self-sufficient person. But this broken leg has reduced me to a person dependent on others. I have had to rely on others to get my son to school, to take my daughter to viola lessons, to drive me to the grocery store, and so on. There are so many things that have been taken out of my control. And that is the big issue for me-control. I want to be able to control things & right now I have control over very little. God is teaching me that I am not in control of everything & I don’t need to be in control of everything. I need to trust that God is in control. I need to have faith that God knows what is best for me & will take care of me. God has tried to teach me this lesson many times, with many methods. But remember, I said I am stubborn & I don’t want to give up that control. So God found a way that would make it nearly impossible for me to ignore the fact that I must allow Him to be in control. I am reminded of that fact every time I look at this ugly boot.


I am also learning that there are 3 things in life that are very valuable: Love, family & friends, & kindness. My children & husband could be angry at me for my temper tantrum; they could say I got what I deserved. They could refuse to help me & just watch me suffer. But they love me, even the stubborn, independent, perfectionist part of me. And that love won’t let them just watch me suffer & refuse to help me. My family & friends have shown love by going above & beyond to help me out the last couple weeks. My kids & husband have taken on extra chores around the house w/out grumbling & complaining. My mother has played chauffer & taken me to the bank, the store, the doctor. My church family brought meals to our home. I have really struggled w/accepting this help. I don’t want to be dependent on others but right now I don’t have a choice. So I found myself grumbling while accepting this help. And God said to me “How can you be so ungrateful when these people are showing you love? The least (and as it turns out the only) thing you can do is be grateful for their kindness. You should be thankful.” Here’s another lesson I am learning while suffering from this broken leg: God calls us to be thankful. I need to be a grateful recipient of help. Instead of grumbling & accepting help begrudgingly I should be rejoicing for the help & thanking the person that is helping me. You see God did not create us to be independent but a part of a community. And that community focuses on love, family & friends & kindness instead of self.
Which brings me back to this ugly boot. At first I hated this boot; I hated it w/a passion. It’s ugly. It cost me $150, I’ve never spent that on a pair of shoes, let alone 1 boot! It weighs a ton & it pulls on my back & hip. There are a lot of reasons to hate this boot. I was complaining about my boot and how I can’t wait to be rid of it when my mother reminded me that this boot is better than a plaster cast. That made me stop & think about the reasons I could be thankful for the boot. I can take the boot off to shower & sleep. I can take it off if my foot becomes sweaty or itchy. This boot makes it possible for me to walk. This boot is protecting my leg while the bone heals. It turns out there are a lot of reasons to love this boot! I am thankful for this boot & suddenly it doesn’t seem so ugly or so heavy.
Did you know that the word “thanksgiving” appears in the Bible 30 times? I think there is some significance to that. That means there is a reference to thanksgiving for each day of the month. I know, some months have 31 days, so those months you get one day to be ungrateful. But the other days you are called to be grateful & give thanks. That means we are to be appreciative, content, grateful, satisfied even pleased, no matter the situation we find ourselves in. According to the Bible our thanksgiving should be specific & is most meaningful when it is voluntary. The book of Philippians is full of Paul’s thanksgiving even though he is in prison. He says things like “I thank my God every time I remember you.” “I know what it is to be in need, & I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
The book of Psalms mentions “thanksgiving” the most. Psalm 116 tells us that our thanksgiving should be an offering to God. Psalm 95 says “Let us come before the Lord with thanksgiving.” And Psalm 100 encourages us to “Enter his gates w/thanksgiving and his courts w/praise; give thanks to him & praise his name.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We may not like our circumstances. I didn’t like this ugly boot, but I found one thing I could be grateful for & suddenly the boot didn’t seem so bad. I still have to wear the boot & it is still ugly & it still weighs a ton, but it’s really not so bad. When we give thanks in all circumstances our circumstances might not change but our attitude changes & that changes our perspective & as it turns out it’s really not as bad as we originally thought it was. I’m sure you would rather be somewhere else tonight. I doubt this is how you would choose to spend your Wednesday night if you could be somewhere else, doing something other than sitting here listening to me preach on thanksgiving. But the fact is you are here. You can choose to focus on the negatives or you can be thankful to be inside a dry, warm & safe building. You can be thankful for a good meal & a cot to sleep on. I challenge you to say a prayer of thanksgiving for just those small things & see if it doesn’t make a difference in your attitude. Let’s pause for just a second for each of us to say a word of THANKS.
In just a few minutes you are going to dinner. I don’t know what they are serving for dinner, but chances are I won’t like it. I am a very picky eater & I don’t eat vegetables (I tease my pastor & tell him that they are against my religion.) But God’s word challenges me to accept the food they are serving w/joy & thanksgiving, even if it is vegetables. There are volunteers & staff members that have worked hard to prepare that meal. You have the opportunity to thank those people for their hard work & for the food they have prepared for you. The 2nd challenge I have for you is to express thanks to someone here tonight, whether it is the person who prepared your meal, or the person that serves your meal, or the person who led our music tonight, or the person who was working at the front desk.
But I must warn you, once you start giving thanks it becomes a contagious habit, one that I hope I will never break.