Thanksgiving in 2020

When my parents were living, Thanksgiving was a big deal.  I had three brothers and a sister. We all had families, and when my mother and father said to show up at their house, that’s what they meant.  There was always turkey and dressing and in my home that meant “oyster dressing”.  There was ham and that meat “country ham”.  There would be green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, all kinds of pickles, mashed turnips, salads and of course, homemade bread.  Everyone brought desserts and that meant a whole counter with nothing but different kinds of pies and cakes.

As I remember Thanksgivings of the past, this Thanksgiving may be a little different.  COVID-19 has changed everything and until the vaccine begins to be distributed, we all need to celebrate Thanksgiving on a much smaller scale.  We need to remember the giant family gatherings and look forward to having them next year.

Thanksgiving is a gift given to us by our Heavenly Father.  We have many, many reasons to give “thanks” because we serve a faithful, good and loving God. We serve the only King who would lay down his life for his unworthy followers. We serve a God worthy of all the thanksgiving and praise we can possibly give. By using this incredible gift of thanksgiving, we remind ourselves of how truly good our Heavenly Father is.

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name.

This Thanksgiving will be a little different but we have much to be thankful for. Let’s make Thanksgiving 2020 a special day.  One day we will all be sitting around God’s table in God’s House seated with all God’s children and it can’t get any better than that.

Prayer: God of heaven and earth. Our hearts are glad and we offer continual Thanksgiving. We offer our hearts and minds and thank you for giving us your Son to die on the cross for each of us.  We give you thanks!  Amen.

Author: Tommy Herndon