What happened to Thanksgiving this year?

A note from Janet: Before I blog, a quick suggestion.

I wrote this year’s Advent book last spring, not knowing what Christmas 2020 was going to look like; but God did. The first entry begins December 1.

If you want a copy of Our Christmas Stories, you can get it here: https://www.denisonforum.org/product/our-christmas-stories/.

I think these stories, and God’s story, will be a daily blessing throughout your holiday season.

Jesus is, and always has been, the joy of Christmas.

Jim and I decorated our home for Christmas before Thanksgiving!

I’m typing this blog post in front of my tree with my QVC Christmas candle burning brightly.

I’m not skipping Thanksgiving this year, but I am going to celebrate it with 2020 style!

A NEWLY-WILLED HOLIDAY

Jim and I made an early decision to respect this virus. It has been tough to draw the lines and live with them. But, we have made it this far and want to “finish strong.”

My first thought was not to worry about decorating our home for the holiday this year. After all, it is going to be just us. Then, we decided to go all in with the decorating and I’m glad.

It’s been so many years since it was just us I’d forgotten how to celebrate us.

Jim and I celebrated forty years of marriage last June, with a steak dinner we brought to the house in Styrofoam containers. Can I get a woo-hoo?

Not so much.

It seemed like Thanksgiving and Christmas were going to feel a lot like that milestone anniversary. So, we changed our plans. Actually, we changed our perspective.

We are going to celebrate a newly-willed holiday season.

This year, we will have turkey with all the fixings, candles, china, and quiet conversation with each other.

Of course, we will schedule that around the Cowboys game. Quite frankly, we both love football, and it is part of our Thanksgiving celebration. Well, at least it is part of our Thanksgiving Day. I’m not sure if we will be celebrating the score.

It has been a tough year for our Dallas Cowboys!

But, I digress . . .

TRULY THANKFUL

Jim and I aren’t newlyweds anymore, but we have newly-willed ourselves to enjoy this unique year. Interestingly, it is actually pretty great!

Forty years later, I still love and enjoy the man I married and look forward to spending the holiday with him. I can honestly say I am truly thankful to celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday safely. We have a lot of reasons to be thankful this year, and we need to make sure others can feel the same way.

I’m thankful for the doctors and nurses who will give up their family holiday in order to care for someone else’s family member.
I’m thankful for those in our country who serve so I can celebrate.
I’m thankful for the scientists who worked around the clock to develop a vaccine that would end the crisis.
I’m thankful to have what I have, even if it isn’t all I would want.

I am truly thankful for so many things this year. There are moments and memories I am going to miss. But, I’m not going to allow those thoughts to remove the gratitude I feel for all the moments I have enjoyed and all I will have in the years to come.

A POLLYANNA PERSPECTIVE

I wanted to write this blog post even though I knew it would make some people upset. Who am I to say what a family should or shouldn’t do this holiday season? Well . . .

I’m someone who prays for friends who are in the medical profession. They wish I would tell my readers to have a uniquely safe Thanksgiving.
I’m someone who is praying for people who have COVID and it is worse than they thought it would be.
I know people who had COVID and it was no big deal. I also know people who were on a ventilator and their lungs will never be the same. Some are simply thankful to be alive this Thanksgiving season.

I’ve taken a Pollyanna perspective to my COVID holiday because it is the perspective that brings me joy. I can’t write about “loving our neighbors” unless I choose to love my neighbors. I can’t teach about commitment unless I keep my commitment. I can’t stress family values unless I value every member of my family.

I’ve wondered who I am keeping safe by keeping my holiday newly-willed. I’ve wondered if someone might change their plans and be kept safe because of this blog post. I may never meet those people this side of heaven, but I’m glad they are safe on this side of heaven.

I know some will read this and roll their eyes. Some will smile and consider me overly careful. But, I’ve been called “Pollyanna” before. I actually believe a positive outlook is a source of joy.

I decided to share my Pollyanna perspective because I pray before I write. My goal in writing a blog post is to try to share what God places on my heart and mind. Please know I did that with today’s post.

Doing without our loved ones this holiday season might mean that someone else doesn’t have to do without theirs forever. It’s my job and my calling to remind all of us that Jesus wants us to love one another as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

You may never know who you are keeping safe—but God knows their names and loves them.

Consider making a personal sacrifice and make that choice with newly-willed joy for this 2020 holiday season.

If you aren’t sure what to do, pray. God will give his answer to your willing heart.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING?

Thanksgiving is still a day for giving thanks. Whatever you do, pray and be thankful for God’s leadership.

God wants you to have his joy and his blessings this Thanksgiving. You might be surprised to discover that it was COVID restrictions the Lord used to provide those very blessings.

This Pollyanna blog writer wishes you and your family a blessed, safe, and wonderful Thanksgiving—whatever God calls it to be like for you.

I close with this message from the Apostle Paul:

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” —Colossians 3:17

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Have you signed up for my bible study, Foundations of Faith, yet?

It’s not too late, we just released another lesson!

Visit https://www.janetdenisonbiblestudy.com/ to sign up for this study, if you’ve already signed up you can login and access the newest video too.

Ask God Why

The trees have budded and the Texas bluebonnets are beautiful.

Sometimes I look out my window and forget about the fact that I’m stuck behind it.

I love this time of year, usually.

I wish we had never heard of COVID-19, and I wish it could have come to Texas in January rather than March and April.

Why now?

I’ve always tried to view the happenings in the world from the perspective of the One who created it. And, I think one of the best ways to find God at work is to study his timing.

Why is America dealing with COVID-19 during the Lenten season?

How will our Easter season be transformed this year because of a virus?

February 26 was Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and preparation for the Lenten season. If we had known the Lord would ask us to give up all that we have been forced to give up during this Lenten season, would we have prayed with greater resolve?

We should be asking God, “Why now?”

Why this?

If we had realized our Ash Wednesday commitment this year would include these difficulties, worries, fears, and inconveniences, would these days seem more like a sacrifice to God than a nuisance to us?

We didn’t know, but God did.

Maybe it’s a good time to revisit our Lenten commitments and remember the verse that says, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

This Lenten season is not a normal one. We should ask God why.

Could it be the sacrifice we are called to make this year is a sacrifice of praise?

Most of us have a great deal to praise God for during these days.

While the rest of the world speaks words of fear, we can speak words of hope and peace.

While the rest of the world speaks words of blame, anger, frustration, and opinion, we can all “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” which is “the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

Did you decide to “give up” something on February 26?

Was it what God asked you to give up or what you decided to give?

Our answers will come by asking God, “Why this?”

Why not?

For a nation that has been abundantly blessed, these seem like difficult days.

Granted, they are absolutely more difficult for some than others. At the time of this writing, none in my family are sick, hungry, or suffering, so I don’t have that level of worry. This blog post is written for the circumstances most of us are living with.

Are you becoming news-weary? Family-weary? Work-weary?

One of my favorite Facebook posts contained the words: “And just like that, prayer and spanking are back in schools #Homeschool 2020.” As a former school teacher, I had to laugh. I agree with the person who said, “Teachers should be asking for a raise right now.”

Apparently, we shouldn’t plan on hearing a lot of good news for the next several weeks. But there is good news that people should be hearing, especially from us.

The word gospel literally means “good news,” and Christians don’t have to wonder how to define our “sacrifice of praise” during this Lenten season. Scripture defines the “fruit of our lips” this way: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Our news isn’t just for a season, it’s eternal.

When we have the opportunity to share the gospel, let’s say, “Why not?”

Why sacrifice?

Romans 12:1–2 are favorite verses for most of us. Read them today with a corona perspective.

Those cherished verses say, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

If you look at those verses from the perspective of our current times, what is God asking of you for this Lenten season?

If you had known on Ash Wednesday what you know today, how would you have prayed?

You can pray that prayer now.

You will know on Easter Sunday what you can’t know today.

What can you be completely certain of now? You can share those certainties now.

A sacrificial life, nonconformed to this world, will be spiritually blessed.

You can be transformed by a mind that has been renewed. And you can know the good, perfect, and acceptable will of God.

That is why we present ourselves to God as living sacrifices.

Ask God Why

We can ask God why, but we will never fully understand. We see through dim glass and we will have to wait for our eternal lives to gain full knowledge of God.

In the meantime, we know enough because we have what we need to know.

Let’s pray the ancient words that have strengthened God’s people for countless generations: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33–36).

Those sacrificial words of praise can be ours.

Maybe that is the most important answer for our whys.

5 Tips for a Stronger Summer Soul

I’m done teaching my Bible study for this year, and so I’m writing this article for my own sake as much as yours.

It’s a lot easier for me to stay close to the Lord when I have to teach his Word each week. I usually spend a lot of time studying and preparing lessons as well as praying for the wisdom to teach them. Then summer rolls around and I spend less time relying on God and more time enjoying my coffee.

I want to do a better job enjoying both!

Now, I’m all for a summer break. We need some downtime once in a while. I will start to write next year’s Bible study in a couple of weeks and that will help. But, there are a few things that I try to do, especially in these summer months, to keep my soul inspired and God’s direction front and center each day. I thought I’d share those ideas with all of you.

These are my ideas, but I would love to hear some of yours. Use the comment section or our Facebook link to share your thoughts.

1. Rise early.

“Joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

The summer days are longer, but they will also get hot (especially in Texas). I like to have my first cup of coffee early, while I read The Daily Article, my husband’s morning essay, and the First15 devotional, written by my son.

Most of you probably get these already, but if you don’t, you should! Spending your time with these words about God will often inspire a word from God.

How do you take that word into your soul?

Put on comfortable shoes and start walking. Consider what God has spoken to you, and, chances are, God will speak words through you that day.

We all need to consume God’s thoughts if we want to have a well-fed soul.

2. Go to bed early.

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2).

This is an obscure verse of Scripture, but it shouldn’t be!

Have you ever stopped to consider why we were created to need sleep?

God didn’t have to create us with that need, but he did. A ton of studies discuss the importance of sleep to our physical bodies, but have you ever thought about the benefits of sleep to our souls?

God can speak to us as we dream. Have you asked him to?

A good night’s sleep is healing to every aspect of our lives. We weren’t meant to work and toil all day. God wants us to rest, and to rest in him.

Give God your dreams, and, each morning, as you are thinking about what you have dreamed, ask God what he might be speaking to your soul.

3. Spend time on your friendships.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and not another to lift him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).

There are so many people in this world I would love to know better. I wish I knew all of you, for example!

But there are only twenty-four hours to a day, and there are a lot more acquaintances in our lives than there are friends.

Heed King Solomon’s words: don’t just spend time with friends; spend some time on your friends.

Our friends should not just be good company. They should be people who strengthen our walk with the Lord and bless our souls—and we should be that kind of friend to them as well.

4. Experience God in an ancient, new way.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

These are familiar and favorite verses. God’s people have been sharing God’s wisdom for centuries. Add something to your spiritual journey that is ancient wisdom but new to you.

There are books of Christian quotes, websites with old sermons, and Christian novels written decades ago. There is something particularly refreshing to our souls to read words that God inspired in the past that are still his truth today.

God is timeless and timely. If he inspired truth one hundred years ago, it is still truth today.

5. Take time to enjoy God’s warmth.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

I have to admit, I love the warmth of summer. I love warm weather, flowers, vacations, swimming, and long, lazy walks on a beach. I love the sun on my toes and a great novel in my hands. I love long days and a slower work schedule.

And I love that I have time to just love the One who provides it all.

Fall will arrive, if Jesus doesn’t. I would love for all of us to look back on these summer months with gratitude for the time we spent just enjoying our God. He would enjoy our enjoyment. Our souls were made to find joy in our Father.

Your soul was created to enjoy its Creator. And he wants to spend these summer days with you, joyfully present in your life.

Strengthen Your Summer Soul

Those are my tips, and you can go to my website or Facebook page to share yours.

The summer months will come and go. Don’t you want to use them to strengthen your soul?

If you are like me, then some weeks will probably be better than others—but I’d like to have more of those great weeks. God gave us the season we call summer. He had to have a perfect reason! Let’s plan to enjoy the days ahead because we trust that God has a plan to strengthen our souls with his joy.

The Big 6-0

Never has a birthday bugged me like this one. By the time you receive this blog post, I will have turned the BIG 6-0. Now, I know some of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “I wish!” But, others are thinking, “I didn’t realize she was that old.” Still, others are saying, “I know! This is a hard birthday!” By the way, I like that response best.

I didn’t enjoy turning fifty, but I figured I might live to be one hundred so I consoled myself with the idea that I had a whole other “second-half” of my life. There is NO chance I will live to be one hundred and twenty. I’m on the downhill side of life and picking up speed! I wasn’t a grandma when I was fifty. Now, I’m a grandma to 3.8 grandchildren. Rachel is due to deliver another boy, the first week of December . . . Pardon me while I grin and say YEAH!!! (Pictures will follow!)

Grandkids are definitely the BEST thing about getting older. The second-best thing is the ability to walk out the door and travel anywhere. So, when Jim asked me what I wanted for my big 6-0, I told him that he needed to book me a few days at Disney World so I can ride every fast, flip-me-upside-down, twirl-me-around ride they have. I choose to turn sixty while I’m riding through the stars of Space Mountain and going from zero to sixty on my FAVORITE ride, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. (That ride features Aerosmith, a favorite band from my younger years – but that is a whole different blog post.)

Jim and I both have bad backs, which will get a little worse next week. But, I’m packing some Motrin and I’m getting in line. There is hardly anyone who likes Disney better than me. (Well, maybe my friend Sheila Bailey!) I grew up in California, and the name of my street was “Buena Vista.” If you watch an old Disney movie, you will notice it was made at the “Buena Vista Studio.” Yes! My street came to a dead-end at the back entrance of Disneyland, where the studio was. My grandparents lived close by, and we could use binoculars to watch Tinker Bell slide down from the Matterhorn while standing in their driveway. Disney is in my DNA and I wanted to turn sixty with Mickey and Minnie. Come to think of it, they are aging well!

Birthdays that end with a zero seem more significant, but they really aren’t. I’m just one day older than I was the day before. I think one of the biggest differences in life on earth and life eternal is the time factor. Almost everything on earth is measured by time. As King Solomon said, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Solomon goes on to say there is a time to live, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to harvest. I would add there is a time to ride fast rides and a time to watch the kids ride them. So, I’m headed to Disney now because I’m not sure when that last season kicks in!

Ecclesiastes is not usually on a person’s list of devotional thoughts, but I have always loved that book. There is time for everything on earth, if you do everything when you should take the time to do it. I think Ecclesiastes isn’t about the futility of life; I think Solomon was teaching us about the priorities of life. I think people should live whatever season of life they find themselves in, looking forward to heaven but fully enjoying their moments on earth. If we saw our earthly lives with godly perspective, then things like turning sixty would feel more like standing in line at Space Mountain. The closer we get to the end, the closer we are to the best ride of this life. When we get off the ride, Jesus helps us out of the car and we exit to the gift shop, where everything is absolutely free and stamped “Made in Heaven.”

I think we should try to live healthy lives and spend as long on planet earth as God allows. Each day is the opportunity to live for Jesus and store treasure in heaven, our eternal reward. I’m going to heaven, but I want to bring as many people with me as I can.

That is the way I want to view the rest of my birthdays. If I could take all of you with me to Disney World, for free, I would try to do that! It’s the greatest place I know to have fun! But I can take people to heaven with me, for free! It’s free because Jesus already bought everyone a ticket. How sad if I didn’t make sure everyone got theirs.

I wish all of you a blessed week. I’m unavailable, off the phone, off my computer, and out of touch for the next week. I’m sixty and I’m going to celebrate! (Now, I need to go color my roots. I don’t celebrate everything about getting older!)