While this is apparently the Christmas season (at least that’s what the music and decorations already tell us), Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. And, if I’m honest here, it’s partially because of the ginormous meal that awaits me, but only partially…
The reality is that Thanksgiving is the time of year when we all pause, ever so briefly, to remember all that we have been given and in response, we give thanks. We thank God for his goodness, his provision, and our bounty. But, what would happen if we did something else?
What would happen if we not only “gave thanks,” but if we “gave” and “gave thanks?”
One of the great honors that I enjoy as the pastor of a new church is that I get to see God at work from up close. I get to watch people who (according to the world’s values) don’t have all that much actually give because they realize that the world’s values don’t match the world’s reality.
So this year, three small groups at Crossroads adopted three families in the Bel Aire, KS area. They’re providing a Thanksgiving Dinner for those who otherwise wouldn’t have one. They’re giving families that may not think they have reason to be thankful something to praise God for.
This isn’t a post to guilt or shame you into giving. I don’t have the statistics of how many across the world will actually go hungry as we log 5000 calories in one meal. But those numbers are real and staggering.
What would this Thanksgiving look like, if instead of just giving thanks, you actually gave and then gave thanks?
