Pièce de Résistance
Much preparation goes into this day set aside for giving thanks. It's easy to think it's all about the food. Turkeys will fill the center of most tables. Side dishes of mashed potatoes and flavored vegetables even children will eat surround it. Perhaps the pièce de résistance is the pie.
Thanksgiving is also about traditions down to the stuffing recipe no one quite makes the way great-grandma did.
For me, it comes down to a question.
I'm not sure when the tradition started in my childhood home, but we were all required to answer. Some--well, one--had a word limit of 25 words or less, and others had to say at least one word. The answers may have varied, but the question remained the same: "What are you most thankful for this year?"
This year is no different. It still comes down to this question. Maybe it all comes down to this question. Word limits or monosyllabic responses aside, I cannot fully rely on my own words to express what I am thankful for because God's Word says it far better.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7
God's Word through these verses and others is what I am most thankful for this year. Blessed repetition of a reference, a word, or a verse is why I am still able to rejoice. For instance, I started the draft of this post last night with these verses in mind. This morning they appeared in my devotional reading. What greater confirmation that the Lord is near!
Only He can gentle my spirit through His. Only He can say to me in my anxious moments, "This is nothing." He slows me with Psalm 46:10 and shows me how His own Word blessedly repeats nothing is impossible for Him (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27).
Everything I pray for and ask for in His name is answered. Those answers may not be clear to me. They may not be the ones I wanted. But, I am thankful anyway. They are the answers I need. (Romans 8:28).
My heart and my mind are guarded in Jesus. Chaos does not reign. The Prince of Peace does! Rejoice!
Which is a great segue to sharing my Christmas wish and my New Year's Resolution. I want peace filling the center of my life in the coming year. Nothing else besides. His peace is the ultimate pièce de résistance.
What are you most thankful for this year? No worries and no word limits. Share from God's Word if you cannot fully express enough how thankful you are for His answers to your questions, for His peace that surpasses all comprehension.