Now that my daughter and her family have moved back to east Tennessee, I am in big time trouble. She, my wife, and my mother-in-law all simply love to cook. Between the three of them, they have researched every recipe Julia Childs, Joanna Gaines, and the Pioneer Woman combined have ever concocted.
Throw my two precious daughters-in-law into the mix, and one can quickly see that Thanksgiving amounts to a full scale cook-off! Let’s just say that their daily activities between now and the big day will involve lots of “KP”! And the big loser in all of this will likely be my waistline! Let’s face it… the battle of the bulge is an ongoing and difficult struggle! And I have come up on the losing end far too many times.
But this year, I am fighting back! I have been trying to cut back a little on my eating and do a little more exercise in advance of the impending assault. More times than I care to recall over the past few weeks, I have sacrificed my taste buds on the altar of discretion. Even worse, I have gone home, put on my walking shoes, and plodded up and down the road.
I am doing all of this precisely because I know the big day is looming. I know even now that the moment will come when the table will be arrayed against me with all manner of delectable weapons. And I know full well that I will likely succumb on that day.
But I do not intend to go down without a fight. At least I will have a little room to absorb the shock and let out my belt a loop or two. And so, for this reason, as the Apostle Paul once said, “I beat my body into submission!”
All jokes aside, Thanksgiving is only 17 days away. That’s a mere two and a half weeks! It is fitting that we should set aside a day to give God thanks for all He has done for us. But we do not need to wait until then to ponder how blessed we are! For my part, I am reminded each and every day just how blessed that I am.
To begin with, I live in the greatest country on earth. Sure, we have our problems. But in spite of these, we still live in a land of plenty as compared to so many others in this world. As I have testified, I do not go hungry. I also have clothes and shoes on my body, a roof over my head, and a warm bed in which to sleep.
In addition to such abundance, I enjoy reasonably good health. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife, children, and extended family. And above all, I was blessed to have been created in the image of Almighty God. And even though my life was marred by sin, I was still loved enough by that God that He chose to redeem me through the sacrifice of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
If all this is not enough to be thankful for, then I do not know what is! And for this reason, I will follow the Psalmist (107:1) and say: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” Dieting and exercise are good activities to undertake on a daily basis. But an even better daily activity is thanking God for how good He is to us!
Given that the following verse (107:2) admonishes all the redeemed to do the same (“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so…”), I encourage you to join me on this day, and on all days to come, and offer a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God for all of His blessings.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/bsb/psalms/107.htm.
Throw my two precious daughters-in-law into the mix, and one can quickly see that Thanksgiving amounts to a full scale cook-off! Let’s just say that their daily activities between now and the big day will involve lots of “KP”! And the big loser in all of this will likely be my waistline! Let’s face it… the battle of the bulge is an ongoing and difficult struggle! And I have come up on the losing end far too many times.
But this year, I am fighting back! I have been trying to cut back a little on my eating and do a little more exercise in advance of the impending assault. More times than I care to recall over the past few weeks, I have sacrificed my taste buds on the altar of discretion. Even worse, I have gone home, put on my walking shoes, and plodded up and down the road.
I am doing all of this precisely because I know the big day is looming. I know even now that the moment will come when the table will be arrayed against me with all manner of delectable weapons. And I know full well that I will likely succumb on that day.
But I do not intend to go down without a fight. At least I will have a little room to absorb the shock and let out my belt a loop or two. And so, for this reason, as the Apostle Paul once said, “I beat my body into submission!”
All jokes aside, Thanksgiving is only 17 days away. That’s a mere two and a half weeks! It is fitting that we should set aside a day to give God thanks for all He has done for us. But we do not need to wait until then to ponder how blessed we are! For my part, I am reminded each and every day just how blessed that I am.
To begin with, I live in the greatest country on earth. Sure, we have our problems. But in spite of these, we still live in a land of plenty as compared to so many others in this world. As I have testified, I do not go hungry. I also have clothes and shoes on my body, a roof over my head, and a warm bed in which to sleep.
In addition to such abundance, I enjoy reasonably good health. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife, children, and extended family. And above all, I was blessed to have been created in the image of Almighty God. And even though my life was marred by sin, I was still loved enough by that God that He chose to redeem me through the sacrifice of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
If all this is not enough to be thankful for, then I do not know what is! And for this reason, I will follow the Psalmist (107:1) and say: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” Dieting and exercise are good activities to undertake on a daily basis. But an even better daily activity is thanking God for how good He is to us!
Given that the following verse (107:2) admonishes all the redeemed to do the same (“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so…”), I encourage you to join me on this day, and on all days to come, and offer a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God for all of His blessings.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/bsb/psalms/107.htm.