Dr. James L. Snyder
It was a Monday morning, and I was busy starting my week by organizing my schedule and some of my projects.
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage came to my door, looked in, and said, “Are you ready for the week?”
I don’t recall her ever asking me that question, but I looked at her and said, “Well, I’m trying to work through my to-do list for the week.”
“You do know what week it is,” she said with a friendly smirk.
I was a little confused because I didn’t know what she was getting after. As far as I’m concerned, a week is a week.
Then she responded, “This week is Thanksgiving. Are you ready for our family Thanksgiving dinner?”
It caught me slightly surprised, and I just looked at her and said, “Oh, my. I completely forgot that this was Thanksgiving week.”
She laughed and walked out of my office and back to the kitchen, where she prepared for the family’s Thanksgiving dinner.
I sat back in my chair and thought about this briefly. I could not believe that it was Thanksgiving again. Didn’t we celebrate it last year? I thought for a moment and remembered that we did, and we had a wonderful time as we gathered around the family table.
Now, another Thanksgiving. We have Abraham Lincoln to thank for this national holiday, and I’m grateful. I have no problem with having such a holiday in the kind of world that we live in today. It is very hard to find anybody who is thankful for anything.
As I was thinking about it, I realized that time goes quickly. We celebrated Thanksgiving only 52 weeks ago. I am trying to remember those days, and I would have to check my calendar to see what happened during those days. But time flies by.
It’s not so much that time flies by as forgetting what’s happening.
I can get up at the beginning of the week and start on Monday, and before I know it, it’s Friday, and I’ve got to close shop. I guess I need to blame my age for that.
I remember that, as a teenager, time was so slow. I couldn’t get it to speed up and get on the way. I was in 10th grade and couldn’t wait to get to 12th grade in order to graduate. I’m unsure, but somebody snuck in two 11th grades without me knowing it.
Sitting in my chair, I look back and realize how far I have come. Thinking along this line, I remembered how a friend used to say, “If you could go back in time, where would you go?”
I often think about that. Every once in a while, I’m reminded of something that happened 50 years ago. I don’t know why it popped into my mind at that time.
Watching something on TV will remind me of something that happened when I was young.
If I could see forward as clearly as I see backward, it would truly change the way I live. But it doesn’t work that way.
I am ready for another turkey on the table this year. I don’t have to look back and think about the turkey on the table last year because I can eat that one. The one I can eat is the one that’s going to be on the table this coming Thursday.
Some of the best things about Thanksgiving for me are, of course, the turkey, but then there is the pumpkin pie. Whoever came up with that idea of a pumpkin pie, I would just like to shake their hand and thank them for all the good times I had on Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie.
One of the good things about Thanksgiving is that I can eat and get away with it. If I had one piece of pumpkin pie, I would say, “Could I have another piece of pumpkin pie?” And because it’s a Thanksgiving dinner, nobody can say no, not even The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.
When I asked that question, she looked at me with one of “her looks” and carefully shook her head in the negative position, but that’s about all she could do. That’s the one thing I love about Thanksgiving. I can get away with it.
I can’t think of anything around the Thanksgiving table that I don’t like. The food is magnificent. And the pies are just wonderful.
My goal around the table is to ensure that the pumpkin pie vanishes without The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage knowing it’s happening.
While eating the first bite of my first pumpkin pie, I will lift my fork in the air and say, “I want to thank The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage for such a wonderful menu today.” Everybody around the table will shout, “Yes.” And that solves a lot of my difficulties on Thanksgiving. Pass on the pumpkin pie.
As I was thinking about Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help but think of Colossians 3:17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
A thankful heart is a heart that pleases God. I want to please God every day no matter what it costs me. The best way to thank God is to be thankful for all my family and friends. Some of those may not be here next Thanksgiving.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com
