With a Thankful Heart.....

This is the wonderful time of year in the United States when families begin the holiday planning for Thanksgiving!  I love Thanksgiving because it's a day set aside to celebrate the blessings of the year's harvest!  Through the years, the focus has been less on our own gardens and bounty and shifted more to just celebrating what we are truly thankful for in our lives.  I love planning the table setting, thinking about where each person will be seated and by whom.  Some people bring all the JOY and laughter they have stored up for the year.....you know the one who is the life of the party!  But truly just being with loved ones is a thankful celebration.

Thanksgiving is about generations gathering together to enjoy each other and the family traditions passed on.  The older ones are a beautiful picture to everyone because young people rarely see themselves as growing old. They are caught up in the age of youth, bursting with excitement about their own lives and the dreams that are yet to be! The older and younger encouraging one another is beautiful!  This is what makes these gatherings so very special! Even though this is happening, along with loving on the new babies born, children enjoying cousins, and parents and grandparents sharing the news of their lives, a foundation is being built in a family that will last. A solid foundation that will only grow stronger in time with LOVE!

My own family growing up was not typical as my parents were very young when I was born and the foundation they could have built just did not work out.  So......when holidays come for me, I approach them prayerfully and with hope that all who are at our table will feel especially loved and loved well.

You see, LOVE builds a foundation quiet like nothing else.  Love is purposeful and lasting when given without any expectation.  This season as you prepare your own table, may I encourage you to build on the foundation of love, deep love that is unshakable, something that will never shake the foundation of your own life! Trust God as you plan and may I encourage you to prepare your own heart asking for guidance and blessing.  These special times can be the best time of the year and all who are at your table can feed on the bounty of a thankful heart!  Be blessed my friend!