Real Thanksgiving

Homemade bread, the smell lingered in the air. Poultry seasoning, onion, and celery released their aromas as they were sautéed in butter. My parent’s house at Thanksgiving.

Now my house has the same scents in the air. I love making things from scratch. Pies, breads,dressing, mashed potatoes, all from scratch. Sometimes though it becomes a source of pride. Pride that I can make things from scratch, not a box. Somehow I think that if I am successful in the kitchen I am a validated. A real mom? A real wife? I don’t know, but whatever it is I find pride in making things from scratch.

Inevitably something goes wrong. I always have flour or some other stain on my shirt. The sheer volume of items I am baking, cooking, throwing together means that something is likely to not turn out.

This year I made pumpkin and pecan pies from scratch (crust and filling–OK, I used canned pumpkin.) turned out well.

However my pumpkin bread decided to stick in the Bundt pan (I have a love hate relationship with those pans. I love the way they look, but hate that I leave at least 1/4 of the baked good in the pan).

I burned both my index fingers at the same time. Yea, I grabbed something that I just took out of the oven without a pot-holder. Yes I am brilliant.

Then the event that nearly sent me through the roof. I ruined two of my pie crusts. Yes two. I rolled them each out nicely and placed them in the pie plate. I carefully pricked each one so that there would be few if any air bubbles. But two sunk into the pan and fell flat.

I finally got one to work…sort of…well, see for yourself.

My first reaction was to get all worked up. I really wanted to beat myself up over not being a good cook and not being able to do what I should be able to do. Which of course is everything and everything done perfectly. Instead though, I thanked God I made the pie crust recipe that yielded a few extra crusts. I laughed at myself because I take myself way too seriously. Then I took pictures to show you my mess. 😉 See I was thinking about you!

Seriously though I have been thinking about real thanksgiving. What a life like that looks like. Ann Voskamp in her book 1,000 Gifts eloquently reminds us that giving thanks precedes the miracle. And who doesn’t need a miracle? I have been wondering what a sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving must look like. Check out my posts on that subject here and here.

Bottom line is that a life of thanksgiving starts with a humble heart. One that chooses to see God first then interpret her circumstances by what He says is true. One that finds the well of joy in the midst of the difficult, dry, and sparse times. When our lives are lived thanking the One who gave us life, our lives are full. Time slows because we find joy in the now instead of expecting joy when something else finally happens. So real thanksgiving comes from a heart that knows God is good all the time and trusts His goodness in every circumstance in life.

Will you join me in a real thanksgiving? What are you thankful for?