Happy Thanksgiving

 

Mama's table and china cabinet

 

Are you cooking like a mad woman?  I am, and I love it!  I always bring out my mama's recipe for southern style cornbread dressing with giblet gravy.  I'll be cooking that along with a roasted turkey, turnip greens with rutabagas, and sweet potato pie (Jem's favorite).  My daughter will be making Mama's broccoli casserole, her paternal grandmother's squash casserole, and her own yummy grape salad. 

Tomorrow as we sit around her table (which I cherish), these traditions will bring back sweet memories of the  many holiday meals we've shared.  She's been gone for seven years now and my memories of her grow sweeter every year.  She was quite a lady and a wonderful cook.  Daddy never did like to go to restaurants, and why would he when he had the best cook in the world?

We had a wonderful experience this week.  We delivered food baskets with the Basket Brigade to needy families in our community.  The gratitude and joyful tears of the people we met really blessed our hearts.  We're going to make it a Thanksgiving tradition.

One of the things I'm thankful for on this holiday is that we still have a holiday that acknowledges God.  Growing up in the pubic school system, I was taught about the Pilgrims and how they thanked Him for the blessings of making it to a country with religious freedom.  I wonder if that's sstill being taught today.  I read this very interesting article today about the history of the first settlers and their connection to Judaism.  Here's the link -  First Fruits of Zion

I've found FFOZ to be a great resource.  Check it out!

Some of the things I'm thankful for this year are:

• our family - especially our new grandson
• our health and strength - we're doing very well for our age. 
  
• our synagogue family - such a precious, loving, caring group we have
  
• life in America - in spite of all the terrible things that have happened over the last two years.  We still live in the best country of all.
  
• God's Word - oh, how I thank Him for preserving it over thousands of years and how accessible it is now - especially all of the translations available on Bible Gateway
• our neighbors and community - we live in a small town and I love it
• for my state (Florida) which I call paradise - and for our governor (DeSantis).  I hope he runs for president one day.  Jem got to meet him recently when he came to the museum to make a commercial for his campaign.  The Gov. gave Jem a hat, a t-shirt, and then they had photos taken together.
  
• religious freedom - let's never take that for granted, Gail-Friends. 
   

   I'd love to know what you'll be doing for Thanksgiving, and what you're thankful for.  

God Loves Feasting

I read this article on Facebook and I loved it.  It also  inspired my own thoughts which follow the article.

GOD LOVES FEASTING

Can you believe it is only four days to Thanksgiving? Help! So much to do as I prepare a sit-down dinner for about 80 of us. What a great time it will be. There is nothing more wonderful than gathering together as a family to fellowship and feast together. Did you know that God loves feasts and celebrations? Yes, they are very biblical.

Psalm 89:15 states: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” Once again, we notice that these “blessed” people are the “happy happy” people. Some translations say: “Oh the happiness!” Others say, “Oh the joy!”

This happiness comes to those who know the joyful sound. What is this joyful sound? The Hebrew word means “the trumpeting of trumpets and shouts of joy.” Most Bible commentators state that it speaks of the trumpet calls to the annual feasts of Israel. It’s a call to feasting and celebration.

Let’s read Numbers 10:10 (NLT): “Blow the trumpets in times of gladness, too, sounding them at your annual festivals and at the beginning of each month. And blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings. The trumpets will remind the LORD your God of his covenant with you. I am the LORD your God.”

It is obvious that the early children of Israel were a trumpet-blowing, joyful shouting people. Not only did they rejoice and blow the trumpets on their feast days but over their daily burnt offerings!

Psalm 27:6 (NLT): “At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.” This speaks of the daily morning and evening sacrifices, encouraging us to also come before the Lord with our families each morning and evening. We don’t do it out of religiosity, but with joy, and even shouts of joy. As the people of God, we are not meant to be a boring people, but filled with joy and praise to God. Oh, the happiness of those who know the joyful sound.

Here’s something else God says about our feasting times. In Deuteronomy 14:26 we read: “And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink (help, can’t believe this in the Bible, yes, the King James Version), or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God (in the presence of the LORD), and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.” **

The conclusion of our Scripture today says: “they shall walk O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” God wants us to really celebrate and rejoice when we feast together. And it’s not separate from God. We do it IN HIS PRESENCE. God wants to join us. He loves to celebrate and feast with us. This is the heart of God. Many people have a totally wrong concept of God.

Prepare to feast in God’s presence this Thanksgiving and may you know the joyful sound.
Love, from Nancy Campbell

~ ~ ~
Yes, as Nancy said, feasts are biblical.   They are also commanded in Leviticus 23, and Nancy's article reminded me of how I love the Feasts of Adonai.  What joy they've brought to my life since I began to observe them in the 1990s.  His holy, appointed times are as follows:
Passover
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (a part of the eight days of Passover)
The Feast of First Fruits  (a part of the eight days of Passover)
Shavuot - The Feast of Weeks
Rosh Hashanah - The Feast of Trumpets
Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement ( a day of fasting )
Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles
Shabbat is also an appointed time weekly

These two feasts are not commanded, but are traditionally observed:

Hanukkah - The Feast of Dedication
Purim - The Feast of Lots

You can learn more about Adonai's feast and festivals here on my blog by clicking on the links on the right side of this page.  

If you are a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach, you've been grafted into the blessings of being a part of the house of Israel.  That means you're also grafted into the responsibilities of observing His Shabbat and His Feasts and Festivals.  If you'll study the New Testament, you'll find that Yeshua and His disciples also observed them.  I hope you'll study Leviticus 23 and learn more about Adonai's feasts because I know you'll find abundant and overflowing joy and blessings in keeping them, too.

I'm thankful for each one who stops by Gail-Friends, and want to say a great big Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  May your celebrations be blessed with joy.

** Deuteronomy 14 is another chapter that most current Jesus followers ignore because they've been wrongly taught they no longer apply, but there are great blessings to those who observe these commandments.  The 14th chapter ends with these words:  "so that Adonai your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do."  His ways are the ways of life and blessings.  This I know from personal experience! 

Thankful Thursday - Too Much Stuffing

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you all, dear Gail-Friends.  This thought has been running through my head, so I wrote it down. . . and a poem appeared:

Too much stuffing – too much fat

But over-kill is where it’s at

Instead, let’s over-do on love

And praises for our God above

Let’s minimize the pies and dressing

And focus on our many blessings.

~ Gail G Golden

Hashem speaks about giving thanks many times in His Word (103 times in the Complete Jewish Bible version). I received this interesting and inspiring  meditation about thanks from Jewish Jewels:

"Let's  look at the root of the concept of “thanksgiving” in Hebrew. As it turns out, “thanksgiving” and “hand” go “hand in hand.” Here’s how: The Hebrew root for thanksgiving is ya-DAH . You’ll notice that the word for hand, yad, is found at the beginning of the word for thanksgiving. From a Hebraic perspective, giving thanks to God is literally to hold out the hand (to revere or worship with extended hands).

We should not sit on our hands when we thank God. Our outstretched hands – in worship – are ways in which we can say, “Thank you, Abba, for all You have done for us, especially for sending us Your Son, the Messiah, to set us free from the power of sin and death.”

Try saying these psalms aloud with your hands lifted and extended in worship: “O Lord my God, I will give thanks (yaDAH) to You forever” (Psalm 30:12). “I will give You thanks (yaDAH) in the great assembly” (Psalm 35:18).

“It is good to give thanks (yaDAH) to the Lord” (Psalm 92:1).

Another, more familiar word for thanksgiving, that comes from the root yaDAH is toe-DAH. Todah also includes the idea of extending the hand. Todah is the word used in Hebrew today for “thank you.” Toe-DAH ra-BAH means “Thank you very much.” “Toe-DAH, Abba” means “Thank You, Daddy” and is a phrase worth learning for use in your personal devotions.

We thank You, Daddy, for all of your wonderful blessings, for Your hand which is always extended to us. You are worthy of all of our praise!"

I'm thankful for you, dear Gail-Friends, and pray you will be abundantly blessed today.

Here's a great song for your Thanksgiving Day:  Todah by Benny Friedman 
 

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Thankful Thursday - My Blessed Life

This quote touched me this week and I hope it blesses you.

"Be happy with what you have and are,

be generous with both,

 and you won't have to hunt for happiness."

~William E. Gladstone.

Here are a few of my blessings over the last week or so:

My hamentaschen turned out well, as did our party last week.  I loved seeing the children in the Torah procession:

and under the tallit for the children's blessing:

The oldest rabbi in Israel showed up to read the whole magillah (book of Esther).

The congregation enjoyed making lots of noise during the reading.

A good time was enjoyed by all.  To learn more about Purim, click on this LINK.

We enjoyed celebrating our daughter's birthday.  Instead of the usual birthday cake, I made a "fruit" cake.  You should have seen my grandson's expression when I brought it out.  "I thought you loved us" was written all over his face.  I added some sugar-free whipped cream for the ones who wanted it.  It really was delicious!

 It's a watermelon slice topped with fresh fruit and coconut.

We took our grandson shopping to buy his momma a present.  He picked out a crown.  What a perfect present!!!

There's no better JOY than having my loved ones at my table.  I'm a blessed woman, and so thankful.

What are you thankful for this week, Gail-Friends?

Thankful Thursday is my day to focus on and be thankful for all of the good things in my life.

*****
  I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at: 
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Thankful Thursday - Thanksgiving Day Blessings

Today is Thanksgiving Day.  I'm thankful to spend the day with my family.  I'll be missing my mama, though.  This will be the first Thanksgiving I haven't spent with her in sixty-five years.

Every year, when I have to cook the meal, I am thankful for all of the years Mama cooked it for us.  It's work, Gail-Friends, and she loved cooking.  Of course I brought side dishes, but she always did the heavy stuff -- the turkey and dressing and giblet gravy, the pies and other special things.  I'm thankful for all those many years she labored in the kitchen, showing us her love.

Even when she was in the nursing home, I either brought her to my house or ate a meal with her.  It will seem strange, like so many things are strange since she passed away.  I still think about her a lot, and when I go shopping  I catch myself thinking about what she might need.

I'm thankful for my husband who's been washing dishes for me while I cook.  What a blessing!  I'll cook a while and then put my feet up to rest while he cleans up the dirty pots and pans.  I love that man!

I'm thankful that my daughter, son-in-love, and grandson will be with us tomorrow, and that she's cooking for the meal, too.  She's like a little Martha Stewart in so many ways.

I'm thankful that my older daughter will be with her husband's family tomorrow.  Family is important on holidays, and I pray they have a blessed day together.

I'm thankful for the abundance of food and drink that will be on our table.  All things come from His hand.

Here's our menu for tomorrow:

 turkey with Mama's dressing and giblet gravy, cranberry sauce (regular and sugar-free), yellow squash, creamed corn, broccoli casserole, mini croissants, pecan pie and a sugar-free cheesecake, libations, and lots of thanks giving, I hope.




I hope you have a good day, Gail-Friends.  I'd love to know what's on your menu, and what you're grateful for?

Blessings to y'all.

************

I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at:
 

Charlotte a Spiritual SundaysSpiritual Sundays     Janis with Sunday Stillness       THE SUNDAY COMMUNITY – #GIVE ME GRACE @SEE SPEAK HEAR MAMA Kathy’s Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life     GRAND Social       The Beauty in His Grip Link-Up   

Modest Mom Monday Link-up         Growing Homemakers Link-Up        The Gathering Spot Link-Up 

MOTIVATION MONDAYS – @EMBRACINGHISWILL      SHARING HIS BEAUTY – @THEBEAUTYINHISGRIP

Titus 2 Tuesday     Share Your Stuff Tuesday    TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS     

Wordless Wednesdays    Jennifer Dukes Lee Tell His Story  Teaching What Is Good Link-Up      

 A Hope in Every Season Homemaking Link-Up    Judith’s Wholehearted Wednesday     Raising Homemakers Wednesday     A Wise Woman Builds       Wake Up Wednesday     A Little R & R Wednesday     Wednesday's Prayer Girls & Link-Up Party

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Wisdom Wednesdays - Thankfulness Every Day

 

"Always give thanks for everything to G-d the Father in the name of our L-rd Yeshua the Messiah" Ephesians 5:20

This painting hung on the wall of my dining room for many years.  I loved it because it is a reminder to be thankful. As my husband and I prepare for a big  Thanksgiving Day celebration with family tomorrow, I've been thinking about thankfulness.

I'm sure, if you've been reading the Bible for a long time, you know how often G-d commands us to be thankful.  But, do you know what The Bible says about  being ungrateful?

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
² For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
³ Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
⁴ Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
⁵ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
⁶ For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
⁷ Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (2 Timothy 3:1-7)


Have you ever thought of a lack of gratitude as a sin?  I don't want to be among the ones who are listed with the above.  Do you?

Have you ever thought about where a lack of gratitude can take you?    This passage expounds further:

What is revealed is G-d’s anger from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who in their wickedness keep suppressing the truth; ¹⁹ because what is known about G-d is plain to them, since G-d has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For ever since the creation of the universe his invisible qualities — both his eternal power and his divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made. Therefore, they have no excuse; ²¹ because, although they know who G-d is, they do not glorify him as G-d or thank him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they have become fools! ²³ In fact, they have exchanged the glory of the immortal G-d for mere images, like a mortal human being, or like birds, animals or reptiles!
²⁴ This is why G-d has given them up to the vileness of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They have exchanged the truth of G-d for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator — praised be he for ever. Amen. ²⁶ This is why G-d has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural; ²⁷ and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burn with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion. ²⁸ In other words, since they have not considered G-d worth knowing, G-d has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things. ²⁹ They are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and vice; stuffed with jealousy, murder, quarrelling, dishonesty and ill-will; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of G-d; they are insolent, arrogant and boastful; they plan evil schemes; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they are brainless, faithless, heartless and ruthless. ³² They know well enough G-d’s righteous decree that people who do such things deserve to die; yet not only do they keep doing them, but they applaud others who do the same. (from Romans 1 CJB)


Not a feel good passage is it?  We don't like to read passages like this, because they remind us of G-d's righteousness and holiness.  But they are important because they explain why the world is becoming more evil.  Ignoring G-d, not praising Him and thanking Him can lead to more sin and ultimately to death, eternally.

Thankfulness is a daily, sometimes moment by moment, discipline.  We have to choose gratitude continually, because there is much in the news to cause us to fear, complain, and keep our eyes on the circumstances around us. 

I've formed some habits around thankfulness, too.  First thing in the morning, I say, "Praise the L-rd!" My first words in my morning journal are praises to my Father, and before I go to bed,  I record in my journal three things I'm thankful for.  It's a great way to start and end my day.

Let's choose gratitude, Gail-Friends, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day.  I love this quote:

Those are golden rain tree blossoms in the background.  I love how they look like little hearts.  They are just one of the many little things I'm grateful for.  They make me happy, happy, happy and give me JOY!

I hope you all have a day overflowing with thanksgiving tomorrow.  When I count my blessings, you Gail-Friends are among them. 

******************

I sometimes share my posts  with  friends at:
 

Charlotte a Spiritual SundaysSpiritual Sundays     Janis with Sunday Stillness       THE SUNDAY COMMUNITY – #GIVE ME GRACE @SEE SPEAK HEAR MAMA Kathy’s Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life     GRAND Social       The Beauty in His Grip Link-Up   

Modest Mom Monday Link-up         Growing Homemakers Link-Up        The Gathering Spot Link-Up 

MOTIVATION MONDAYS – @EMBRACINGHISWILL      SHARING HIS BEAUTY – @THEBEAUTYINHISGRIP

Titus 2 Tuesday     Share Your Stuff Tuesday    TITUS TUESDAYS @CORNERSTONE CONFESSIONS     

Wordless Wednesdays    Jennifer Dukes Lee Tell His Story  Teaching What Is Good Link-Up      

 A Hope in Every Season Homemaking Link-Up    Judith’s Wholehearted Wednesday     Raising Homemakers Wednesday     A Wise Woman Builds       Wake Up Wednesday     A Little R & R Wednesday     Wednesday's Prayer Girls & Link-Up Party

 Thought Provoking Thursdays at 3D Lessons 4Life     Thursday  Favorite Things Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life

Friendship Friday 

STILL SATURDAYS @SANDRAHESKAKING     PLAYDATES @LAURABOGGESS

 My Fresh Brewed Life with Barbie – Weekend Brew