SINCERELY SCOTTY by Walter Scott: Thanksgiving Grace

Thanksgiving is almost here.  There will be, of course, a big dinner with family and friends.  It will, as usual, be a joyous and happy occasion.  This will be the first Thanksgiving for Jacque and me to celebrate together.  We had originally planned on going to two separate dinners with each family, but we now are planning on asking both families to a dinner at our house.  Why should these families and friends plan two separate dinners just to accommodate only the two of us?  After all, it is a time for friends and family to gather and give thanks for all that we have.  There is no need to have separate family dinners.  Yes, there are, of course, different backgrounds and different family customs being merged into one.  Perhaps it is now time to resolve any difference and start some new traditions. 

So how should you start your Thanksgiving celebration?  Do you call everyone to line up and start serving themselves and then find a seat and start eating?  I would ask you to consider the story below ………           

A hot, nicely browned turkey is the centerpiece of the loaded table, as grandma announces dinner is ready. Nine-year-old Johnny proudly carries his five-month-old sister to the table. Grandpa and the other men get up slowly with one eye on the football game on TV. They look back in time to see the wide receiver catch a pass and be pushed out of bounds at the three yard line. The game continues in the background without them.

“Who’ll say the grace?” grandma asks. All the grown-ups look uneasily at each other in nervous silence. Finally, Uncle Allen snickers and echoes the word “grace,” and laughter spills over the tension giving relief to the situation.  Grandma steps in and says, “Johnny, why don’t you say the prayer you learned in Sunday School when you were in kindergarten.” He quietly recites it and the eating begins.

For a while uncomfortable silence replaced thanksgiving and gluttony displaced any sense of gratefulness; the meaning of Thanksgiving has now faded and is lost in the festivities of the moment. Thanksgiving — an expression of appreciation to God for what we have — is all too often missing from our holiday. Overlooked might be a better description.  There is, however, an old custom which can redeem the day.

We read in Matthew 14, verse 19, Jesus “took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples.”

And at the Last Supper Jesus took bread and gave thanks, lifted the cup, gave thanks and offered it to His followers. Jesus always offered up a prayer of thanksgiving before meals.

We can do it, too. A simple, quick prayer of thanks at each family meal of the year will slowly instill a sense of thankfulness in us.  As our children see us bow our heads to thank our God, they, too, will learn to be grateful. Robert Lintner said it well: “Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.”

This habit of giving thanks can begin around our tables this Thanksgiving w– the first of many prayers of thanks to be offered, not just by all the little Johnnies, but by their thankful mothers and fathers as well. 

I reluctantly must admit that it took Jacque to restart this practice in our house.  We did try to say “Grace” at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but every day?  No, sadly I was remiss in doing it.  Sometimes we forget, but we are doing better. 

So what will you do this Thanksgiving?  Will you remember to set aside a minute or two to say grace?  And will you remember to do it every day?  I know it is a hard habit to get started, but a needed one.  I pray that we, as a nation, will return to a more prayerful way of life in place of our frenzied life style.

Sincerely, Scotty