FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: Thanksgiving is... well... it’s Hallmark in real life
Welcome, friends, to the “front porch.”
I don’t know how many times I have told you that Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that stays with you the way that the turkey and dressing from that most notable Thursday does.
It hangs around all the way from sometime in November through December, from Christmas to New Year’s, and it even lingers as far past the opening of a new year as we can let it.
So, when we say to you the week after Thanksgiving that “I’m so glad it’s Thanksgiving,” you know what I mean. Just when I thought it’d never get here – boom! – I looked up, and there it was, right on the horizon.
And now we can all look back on the actual day and remember how it came, and how it came well, there with all the trimmings, all the festivities, all the joy, and the rest.
Oh, I know I’m not the only one who wants to hang onto Thanksgiving as long as I can. You do, too. Whether it’s the turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce (please, ma’am, don’t forget the cranberry sauce), or the Black Friday shopping, or a little football on the TV – or maybe it’s just the being around your family with nobody in the house having to go to work the next day and probably the day after that – all of the above are reasons to give thanks.
And, to make sure we don’t forget, what a time to offer a quiet prayer to the One who makes it all possible. That’s what Thanksgiving is about, at its core. I know the Lord loves it when we remember the One to whom our thanksgiving goes.
You understand.
But for me, it’s not so hard to remember to give the Lord thanks when you look up and you see life is filled with, say, the smell of pumpkin pie or sweet potato casserole, with marshmallows. No, please don’t skip the marshmallows, either.
Thanksgiving is just one of those days on the calendar the Lord Himself has to look forward to, even though He doesn’t work in days and months as we do. Things are quieter down here in this world, there’s less commotion, there’s a great deal more giving and less taking, there’s more joy than the rest of the year combined, probably. I know the Lord breathes a little sigh of relief at that.
When it comes around, we know that everything is going to be all right. You’ve made it through the hot days of summer, you’ve enjoyed the cooling-off and leaves-changing days of Fall, and you are a stone’s throw to Christmas.
So, let’s kind of take a deep breath and try to be thankful that we have made it this far, you and I. That’s about as good of a blessing as we could ask for.
Oh, just so you’ll know, you can expect that every time you pick up the newspaper over the next few weeks, flip through a few pages, and come to this space, what you read is going to be something from what I call the positive-zone.
It’s going to be about Santa Claus and reindeer, hot chocolate and marshmallows (I like how marshmallows keep popping up), one-horse open sleighs, presents under the tree, “Away in a Manger”, and joy – sounds a great deal like a Hallmark movie, but that is what makes this time of the year so special. It’s Hallmark in real life, all but the snow.
And, who knows, magic happens this time of the year, the snow could be next.
After all, this is Hallmark in real life.
Continuing to celebrate a quarter of a century of column-writing, beginning in 1997 – always welcome your comments: coachbowen1984@gmail.com