But my point? I have no idea except it's just fun remembering all that great food and the wonderful hands that worked so hard to prepare it. Cause for Thanksgiving right there! Thank You Lord for terrific cooks and for their willingness to bless us with their gifts. And by the way, Lord, could you please help me in that department so that I might not just be blessed but be a blessing?! But until then, I'll just keep eating, enjoying and extending thanks.
Now, of course, the fun of the fellowship far exceeded the enjoyment of the food... okay, they were at least tied. But seriously, is there anything better than sitting around with people you adore, laughing, talking, and eating? Win-win-win.
Exceeded only at Thanksgiving by one of my very favorite traditions: singing together after the grand repast. Let me go back to explain that our fabulous Cousin Vicky (as all my children call her) and Cousin Bob host our extended family for Thanksgiving. We have officially nominated her (and Bob, but the woman gets all the credit for Thanksgiving, if you ask me) for sainthood for doing this for so many years, as we are officially a mob scene and eat like one as well. And Vicky and Bob and their wonderful 3 girls and their husbands and children do not only provide the loveliest setting with the most delicious food, but, well, they are just so much fun. And they put up with all of us... so they are long-suffering... or crazy.
But every year, after stuffing ourselves silly, we all gather around, and our niece, Emily, plays the violin while we sing lots of terrific Thanksgiving hymns. Every time I sing "We Gather Together," it just takes me back to memories of making pilgrim hats in elementary school or singing in school choruses wearing Indian headdresses made out of grocery store bags. I LOVE Thanksgiving. And with children, we got to relive the joy of it all over again. Thank You Lord for this gift--like memories of helping with the kindergarden Thanksgiving feast with the children all dressed up as pilgrims or indians, or watching a 2nd grade Thanksgiving play after helping a child memorize Squanto's lines. ("Welcome pilgrims." He was fabulous.)
Good grief, I have wandered far afield. Anyway, we all sit around and sing hymns. The picture above is of sainted Vicky and Bob and my sister-in-law, Alice looking good and sounding ever better. They will kill me for putting that in here. And I had to include one of our incredible, and I mean incredible, violin player, Emily, with our two daughters, Janie and Mary Norris.
But there was Janie, eating, talking, laughing, and singing.... and fussing and rolling her eyes at her mom for taking so many pictures. We are talking about a teenager here. Thanks be to God for His mighty deliverance and healing... and even for rolling eyes.
Might we never tire of proclaiming His praise--in hard places like hospitals and in happy places like homes. He is always and forever worthy and faithful. I love and know so many folks are in those hard, dark places right now. We have been there. And we will all be there again, for this is a broken, fallen world. None of us gets a pass on suffering.
But as Ann Voscamp has written: "Giving thanks is only this: making the canyon of pain into a megaphone to proclaim the ultimate goodness of God... [for] Thanksgiving in all things accepts the deep mystery of God through everything."
Singing God's praises to me does just that. Yes, we proclaim, when we sing, this world can be lonely and lost, yes, we can feel desperate, and at times, even despairing... BUT God is still forever faithful and changeless and omnipotent and all-loving. And He is still and always with us right in the midst of pleasure and pain, our joys and sorrows.
And there's just something about singing those praises that raises a fist to the suffering and declares, "He is still worthy and great and glorious and will redeem all this, even this, and transform it into a platform for His glory and our good." For He will--He is the One who resurrects and redeems, not just some things, but all things.
So today, might we--
"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." Psalm 146:1-2
To God be the glory!
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