Thankfulness at the Table

Here we are. The holidays. I know for me, they have crept stealthily up like that of cat ready to pounce. Soon we will be sitting at the family table, passing the mash potatoes, the crescent rolls and all the while eyeing the desserts waiting wrapped under foils and Tupperware lids. There will be games, laughter, football and of course someone snoozing unaware of the stares and giggles made their way.

This week is Thanksgiving. Perhaps there will be the suggested statement “Let’s share what we are thankful for…” The statements begin at the other end of the table. Phew … this will buy us time to think of all the many blessings of this year. Our responses follow the same of the one prior to us, we are thankful for our family, job and healthy kids. Blessings, yes these are! However, there is yet a fidget of spirit, the unspoken ache in our soul. Does anyone at this table really know the pain of our heart, despite the happy smile we practiced all the way here?

 The answer is … YES!

The Psalmist wrote so poetically, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds … Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.” (Ps. 147:3,5) Let me say that again with emphasis, “His understanding has … NO LIMIT.” God’s insight into our life is infinite. I adore how King David expressed this in Psalm 139: “O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord.” (vs 1-4)

Thankfulness is not only being able to quote a list of blessings, it is the heart awareness of God knowing us. In this we stop – pause and worship. Matthew Henry, the classic scholar of an earlier day, had this timeless thought, “Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better.”

Jesus, He knows what we need, what we want AND the deepest longings and painful patches of our heart. We are thankful, even when they are unspoken at the Thanksgiving table. 

“Thank You Jesus for our jobs, families and healthy kids. Thank You that You KNOW and understand us completely. You are an amazing God!”

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds” ~ Heb. 10:24)