I was reminded last week that Thanksgiving is literally closer than I think. Rich and I live in a wooded area, and my husband loves to hunt. He telephoned me on my cell. All I could hear was, "Gobble, gobble, gobble." He'd called in a turkey, and it was standing at our back door gobbling away.

 

How did the holidays sneak up on us? We're about to enter the week where we're supposed to make a dedicated effort to count our blessings instead of our burdens. But as a single mom, that's a stretch.

 

I took a survey at a single moms' event last year and 96% of the mothers found the holidays a difficult season to endure because of a money, energy, and happiness shortage along with an excess load of responsibility, anger, and comparison. Yes, the list easily outnumbers what your kids want for Christmas!

 

"Happy Thanksgiving. Happy? Really?" we question. We readily admit that it's hard to be positive when the holidays aren't shaping up the way we had dreamed when we were kids.

 

However, I still believe it's true. You can make a positive memory out of Thanksgiving.  You are the emotional pacemaker in your home, and you can turn the kids' attention to thanking God in some way.

 

I heard about a lady years ago that performed a most unusual activity with her family when they gathered at the table. In keeping with God's command to "Give thanks in ALL circumstances," she thought, "Well, Lord, how can I lead my children to do that?"

So she carried on as usual, setting up a lovely Thanksgiving spread, bringing out the kids homemade place mats and Grandmother Essie Mae's China. But instead of a Fall adorned centerpiece with orange and brown leaves, she set red roses right in the center of the table; however, one major element was noticeably different. All the roses had been cut off and only stems of thorns remained in the vase. Everyone inquired about the out-of-the-ordinary arrangement.

 

"You will all have to wait until after we eat," she teased. "Yes, before the pumpkin pie I'll tell you."

 

Following the meal, the children and guests waited to hear why the stems of thorns. She then placed a long thorny 2 inch stem on every dessert plate and proceeded to read the short story Thankful for the Thorns. Each person was asked to share some experience over the past year that served as a thorn to handle, perhaps a serious trial they endured or something difficult that had happened at school. They responded by taking the details of the thorn story and turning it into a beautiful rose story of how God either worked it out for good or might be working it for a higher profit in an effort to praise the Lord for His presence in the difficulty.  

It turned out to be a very intimate and revealing time as folks shared together. It took them beyond mere surface conversation and the usual excitement of a festive Thanksgiving meal into a more concentrated effort to truly focus on God, draw from His strength, and give Him thanks. Real. Genuine. Pertinent.

 

Most of you reading this will say, "Well, that's good and fine for some families but it is not a 'fit' for mine!" I totally understand. There have been years when it wouldn't have been a comfortable activity with my family either... trust me!!!

 

But I do feel that ALL of us as women of God can ask Him how we might be personal examples to our children in what it looks like to be thankful regardless of our circumstances. And why should we give thanks NO MATTER WHAT?   Because God wills it in His Word- 1 Thessalonians 5:18- Yes, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is MY will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

Girlfriends, let's do it. And let's take to heart the theme of this little devotional. Perhaps we should even voice it in a prayer:

 

Lord, this Thanksgiving, teach me to give You thanks for all my thorns (and I have a lot of them) as easily as I praise You for my roses."

 

'Happy' Thanksgiving. Happy?  Yes... Happy, my friend!