Praise and Thanksgiving

Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

The leaden gray clouds hung low in the sky as the brisk mid-November winds whipped around my legs. I knew Winter had tightened its grip on our little community that sat bowl like with the majestic Allegheny mountains towering all around us like a curtain of evergreen trees.

There was a certain happiness in the air that made neighbor greet neighbor with more friendship and longer conversations than usual. As a pre-teen girl, I noticed the extra kindness shown to one another and it gave me a sense of gladness. I wanted to share that feeling with my folks and school friends alike.

My Step-Mom had started preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday in the way that all of the ladies in our community did. She cooked and baked and stored the various concoctions in our refrigerator until I thought we would see it topple onto the floor. We had a huge old house with very thick brick walls and no heat in the attic..thus it was perfect for keeping things cold just like refrigeration.

We had a wood burning cook stove in the basement that had a ham baking in the oven and the electric stove was emitting wonderful smells of turkey. As I passed the door to the basement, I was greeted with the heavenly scent of freshly baked loaves of bread that was my Step-Moms specialty. She wrapped them in aluminum foil and put them in the warmer that was atop the cook stove.

When the meal was completely prepared and before relatives arrived, my Step-Mom took several loaves of bread and walked around our little area, giving a warm home made loaf to several elderly folks. I helped her carry them and the words of thanks, grateful, blessing appreciate rang in my ears as I learned firsthand what Thanksgiving meant.

As an adult, my Thanksgiving starts with giving God thanks for sending his son Jesus to be my Savior and for all the many blessing he has bestowed upon me.

© 2006 Ann Marie Fisher


 

 



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