Week 2: Thanksgiving and a Tradition of Faith
I know I said last week that Thanksgiving had to be about more than just Family and Turkey. However, Thanksgiving does tend to center around the family. So how can the family aspect of Thanksgiving lead us to worship? (Praying that your crazy uncle Herbert won’t be able to come to dinner this year doesn’t count.)
What kind of traditions do you have at your house on Thanksgiving? At mine, we have several…my brother makes the pumpkin pie, I make the chocolate layered dessert, and my sister usually makes a chocolate meringue pie. Don’t ask me how these assignments were made, but they were and now when we all get together, that is the plan. One other tradition we have is that when we gather around the table to eat, we start the meal with a prayer and then go around the table and each person shares something that they are thankful for. I’m sure many of you have a similar tradition.
My family has lots of traditions during the holidays, but there’s something that I appreciate more than our holiday traditions. My family has passed a tradition of faith in Jesus Christ down to me. My family lived these verses out in our home.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Like any other tradition, we can choose to not follow our parents lead when it comes to faith in God. I love and appreciate my parents for teaching me the ways of God and helping myself and my siblings come to a point where we chose to follow Christ. Because of the life of faith that they passed down to us, I know that the whole of my family will be in heaven when we die.
What about you? Was your house like this growing up? Did your parents impress upon you the commandments of God? Did they lead you to love God? If so maybe the simplest act of worship you can offer this year is to thank God first for saving you, second for placing you in a family that loves Him, and third thank your family for being obedient to God’s word.
Are you growing a house like this for yourself? If not, why not begin? This holiday season, if you love the Lord God, why not share that with your family? We have a day set aside within our year to spend with family and love each other. Why not point our families towards the One who loves unconditionally and who sent His Son to die for each of us? Why not start a tradition of faith for your family? You don’t have to be the oldest in the house to begin a tradition; you simply have to be willing to share the love of Christ with those whom you love. Imagine the blessings you could have to celebrate and be thankful for next year if you spent this year sharing with those closest to you about the One who will “never leave you, nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
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