Thanksgiving

The two weeks before Thanksgiving, Flu A hit my family of six. One by one my kiddos passed the bug to each other. By the time my toddler had it, this worn out mama could not dodge the virus.

To say those four days were unpleasant is an understatement. Having a fever as an adult is not fun at all! Everything on the schedule for those days was set aside and I find myself still catching up.

After reading my Advent devotional this morning, I am compelled to finish a hearty item from that list: this blog post. Ruth Chou Simons is a favorite artist and author of mine. She breathes sound theology from her deep personal walk with the Lord into everything she says and does. My appreciation for her grows daily, in this season especially, as I read her Advent devotional Emmanuel.

Today’s reading taught on thanksgiving and admonished me to respond to the Lord in praise, even in the midst of hurried holiday schedules. This unfinished writing was the first item in my mind as I turned to pray. My own intentionally planned season of giving thanks was interrupted, not just by the flu but by life. Life simply panned out differently than I had hoped or anticipated over the past month. Many things were accomplished and parenting strides were made but they were not the one’s I had planned.

Interruptions are still spaces for the fruitful work of God in our lives. How many historical moments in the Gospels were the direct result of interruptions along the way to somewhere else? A less cluttered version of my mind would stop and list here every moment I have seen this in scripture but there is one pressing my heart while the clock presses my writing time.

“While Jesus was saying these things, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and place Your hand on her, and she will live.”

So Jesus got up and went with him, along with His disciples. Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. She said to herself, “If only I touch His cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take courage, daughter,” He said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was cured from that very hour.

Matthew 9:18-24

It does not seem to matter how often I read this passage or hear it taught, I am still caught by the reality that Jesus did not rebuke interruptions. He was speaking just before verse 18 starts when he is possibly interrupted by a synagogue leader in need of his healing power. Jesus gets up to go with him and yet again is interrupted by a hemorrhaging woman. He heals her on his way to heal another.

While we must make intentional efforts to set aside time for rest and sabbath, I fear I often miss the healing moments that come as interruptions to my daily life. Every mother I know would like to take a weekend away. A weekend off in the mountains to refresh our souls, drink a whole coffee while it is hot, and finish our thoughts completely would be such a refreshment for all of us!

But, that getting away, can become and idol in my own life. It can stop me from living out my renewing and refreshing faith in God day to day when I forget that the everlasting well of living water flows in me even as I stumble over a toddler in the kitchen floor or drive through rush hour home from work. I have to stop and take a breath. God is with me, always. That means His healing power and comforting spirit are at work.

Right now, I have let my Christmas card mailing morning be interrupted by finishing (or completely rewriting) this blog because I must pause and give thanks. I praise the Lord who cures a woman the very hour of her most desperate need. I praise the Lord who has somehow made it better to be in a house of mourning than of mirth (Ecclesiastes 7:2-3). I give thanks to the God who is the only one worthy of any praise at all, pure and holy for eternity.

I will sing the song this blog was supposed to be about as I drive to work now and I hope it will also lift your spirits, maybe interrupt your day, to sing along to words found in Revelation 7 with the eternal choruses of heaven.

Here is Thanksgiving, a song from my heart to thank the Lord for who He is.

In the Love of Christ,

Hannah