Thanksgiving on this side of the ocean isn’t the same as it is in America. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; but it’s the truth. Over time, I’ve learned that if I focus on recreating all the things I’m used to at home, well, it’s a lot like drinking soy milk. (It may provide a dairy-like experience, but believe me, I’m still not convinced).Much better to focus on a few essentials, and enjoy those to the full.
By now, I may have managed to condense my Thanksgiving necessities down to three: the homemade stuffing (with sage), a table-full of people I love, and the thankful list.
I’m told that the first-comers of my faith to America barely survived the first winter…that when the second fall rolled ’round, they were beside themselves with joy over God’s provision, and held a three-day feast for Indian and immigrant alike. That for scores of years, they kept a fast-day in the spring (calling on Him to bless their crops), in addition to Thanksgiving every fall, when they celebrated those answered prayers.
(I love the passage in Zechariah, where God promises to turn fast days into “seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts.” Isn’t that just like Him?)
Lately, I’ve been meditating on the idea that God stirs us up to pray specific prayers, because we’ll know it’s Him when He answers!
This year, my thankful list has two parts. First, I turned back to a page of requests from this spring. Requests for myself, for my friends. Things mundane, and things miraculous: the kind I can’t really imagine God answering, but I screw my eyes shut, take the leap and ask anyway. But mostly ordinary requests: the kind you are asking Him for, too.
And this page is peppered with red-inked answers. Why yes, he found himself a girl. Why yes, she reconnected with a man she once knew, in a way so simple, so natural, and so fitting, it could only be Him. Yes! God said. Yes, I’ll provide for that online course. I’ll restore that broken marriage. I’ll make myself known to that teenaged girl.
The other part of my thankful list details His blessings and faithfulnesses: a jumbled-up mixture of the sublime and the whimsical, things He dreamed up for me, whether or not I asked. More ways He said Yes! to me. Yes, you can go back to scribbling out compositions in Hebrew, and getting help with your much-lamented spelling. Yes, I’ll send you halfway around the world to meet your wee nephew. Yes, I’ll send you a pocket Bible and crocus blossoms, packs of Post-it notes and train rides, just because I can.
Sure, there are not-givens. There are answers for which I’m still waiting.
(I’ll thank Him for those later).
I’ve got plenty to celebrate today.
Trust in the LORD…feed on His faithfulness.
Elisabeth Adams 