Why I will torture my daughters tomorrow

  It has been a long election season for our country, but before it is over, I have one thing left to do - well actually two.  1.  Go and vote. 2. Torture my daughters in the process. 

If you didn't vote early, I urge you to join me tomorrow in making your kids part of the election process.  Give them the privilege of going with you to vote.  Pray for a long line.  Bring nothing for them to do.  (Don't even pack a snack.)  As parents, I believe that it is as much our civic duty to vote, as it is to instill in our children that the right to vote is a privilege, one worthy of our small sacrifices. 

Eight years ago I volunteered at the polls in a very poor neighborhood with a high percentage of Haitian immigrants.  The polls opened at 7:00, so I was asked to arrive at 6:30.  When I arrived, I was shocked to see a line wrapping around the school.  These Americans, most of who had not been born here, valued their right to vote so much that they had started lining up hours and hours before the polls opened.  In line, were dozens of little children.  They were sleepy eyed, but many of them had been dressed in their Sunday best to go with their parents or grandparents to vote.  Those children were being taught that Election Day is a special day.   

My daughters are the 14th generation of women born in this country, yet they are only the 4th generation of women with the right to vote.  I want them to care about that.  I want them to care even in the election years when they don't passionately support any of the candidates.  I want them to care that women around the world everyday are burned, jailed, shot and beaten for trying to claim the very smallest of rights, let alone an equal say in their government.   I want my girls to grow up to be women who care enough to line up before dawn to cast their vote. 

So, tomorrow I will wait to vote until after school.  The three of us will go together.  I will take one daughter by each hand and pray for a really long line.  I will talk  to them about how we are among the most blessed and fortunate women in the world, and even if politics appear to dissolve into facebook quips and endless commercials, my vote does matter, and one day, theirs will too. 

Hold the tinsel - why we need Thanksgiving right about now

It's time to take down the ghosts and spiderwebs.  With the mall already decked in evergreen, the pull is strong to go ahead and decorate for Christmas.  I'm here to say, "Hold the tinsel sisters!"  Now this isn't a plea to stop the insanity of Christmas starting in September, this is a plea on behalf of your weary soul.

Maybe, like me, you are entering the end of this year looking back thinking, "Whoa, did all that really happen?"  This year, Facebook feeds and headline news merged more than ever before.  I used to check Facebook for dorky suburban updates, this year I checked it to read the status of friends and their children being shot, dying, houses burning down, diseases out of horror movies, and divorces worthy of Lifetime movies.  My soul is weary.  Is yours? 

Last November, a friend of mine, who had had a terrible year, put her Christmas tree up the first week  of November.  She said she just needed something happy to happen in her house.  She needed to sit by the twinkling lights of the tree and try to feel okay.  I get it.  I really do.  Hallmark and Martha Stewart have sold us a story that happiness is available if we just put up the decorations, buy the gifts, and bake the cookies.  If that is true, why not put up the decorations early?  Why not try to find a few extra weeks of peace?  We need it, right?

Well, we do need peace and happiness, but deep down we all know their story is a lie.  Only the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings is going to flood your home and heart with the joy and peace you're looking for.  You say, "That's why I want to decorate for Christmas early - to celebrate Jesus, to welcome the Prince of Peace." 

Sorry. Nope. Again, let's be honest.  Scripture doesn't tell us to enter his presence through an evergreen decked door.  How does Scripture tell us we should approach and draw near to Him? 

"Enter His gates with Thanksgiving,

and His court with Praise." (Ps 100:4)

We don't need to get tinsel, we need to give thanks.  We need Thanksgiving.  It's through giving thanks to God for our many blessings that Scripture promises us that we will draw near to Him.  It's the true way to the Prince of Peace, regardless of how Hallmark has told us to get there.

So hold the tinsel my friends, and let us enter into a 22 day feast of praise and thanksgiving.  Let us savor each of the next three weeks to count blessing upon blessing, even amidst chaos, and sadness and death (because that too He has conquered). 

Instead of covering your house with tinsel 22 days early, cover it in gratitude.  Hang poster board on the walls and let your kids list their blessings. Write the names of every friend, co-worker, church member, neighbor, service provider, teacher, and family member on pretty paper and plaster your kitchen with it.  Make a Thanksgiving Tree (and make it big).  Play contemporary praise music and old fashion gospel.  Read One Thousand Gifts and start making your list.  Take out some lipsticks and write on every bathroom mirror. 

For God so loved the world He gave his one and only Son.  (John 3:16)

or

Great is the Lord and most worthy of Praise (Ps 48:1)

or

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy (Ps 47: 1) 

or

Behold, I am coming soon! (Rev 22: 7) 

Friends, will you join me in coating this month in thanksgiving and praise?  When we take the time to count our many blessings, our burdens become lighter and our joy becomes greater, after a season of thanks, I know we'll find that when it's time to hang the tinsel, a true season of joy will be waiting for each of us. 





 

 



The Thanksgiving Tree - November's Family Devotion

For Parents: 

The mall is decorated for Christmas before Halloween has even arrived.   With the crush of Christmas coming, it is easy to skip right over Thanksgiving and head into celebrating Christmas.  November’s family devotion is designed to help your family set aside time to be grateful – to give thanks – for the immeasurable ways God has blessed you.  Our family has had a Thanksgiving tree for the past 6 years.  The day after Thanksgiving I collect our “gratitude leaves” and place them in a zip lock bag with the year written on it.  Each year when we get out our Thanksgiving tree and other decorations, we take time to look through the bags from past years.  It is an amazing testimony to God’s enduring faithfulness to our family.  I pray that this devotion will be the start of a new tradition for your family, a tradition of entering the holiday season with thanks. 

Materials You Will Need: 

·         Bible,

·         Garden pot

·         Rocks to fill the pot – or florist Styrofoam to support your tree branch

·         Tree Branch

·         Colored paper leaves with ribbon or string attached to hang on your tree. (if time and ages allow, making these leaves can be part of your family time.  Precut paper leaves can also be purchased from your local craft or teacher supply store.  Look in the bulletin board or scrapbooking section)

·         Tree branch – approximately 24-30 inches tall with multiple smaller branches coming from it – if you cannot find a suitable branch in your yard, you can purchase one at your local craft store)

·         Pens or markers

·         Optional: decorative ribbon to tie around your pot. 

 The Thanksgiving Tree: 

November's Family Devotion

Introduction:   

We are fortunate in the United States to have a national holiday set aside to thank God for His many blessings.  Sometimes it may feel like Thanksgiving is a day about football games, lots of food, watching parades or even getting ready to shop for Christmas, but that is not what Thanksgiving is all about. 

Thanksgiving is a day set aside to thank God for the many ways He has blessed us.  God wants us to take time to thank Him.  Throughout the bible we can find stories of people who please God by being grateful to Him, and people who angered God by being ungrateful.  We want to be a family who pleases God.  We want to be a family who takes the time to thank God for the many gifts He has given our family.   

 Reading:  Luke 17: 11-19 Ten Men Healed of Leprosy

Discussion:

·         What did Jesus do for the ten men?

Leprosy is a severe skin disease.  It is painful and at the time of Jesus, there was no known cure.  People with leprosy had many wounds on their skin, and often lost parts of their face, hands and feet.  While the physical pain of leprosy was great, perhaps the greater pain was that people with leprosy had to live away from their families, outside of towns and cities.  When Jesus healed them, He not only physically healed them, but he allowed them to return to their families.  What a gift!

·         Why do you think the one man came to thank Jesus?

·         Why do you think the nine men did not come back?  

·         It is easy to think that we would be like the one man who came back, but it is easy to be like the other nine and forget to thank God for the good things He does for us.  Discuss as a family what you have to thank God for just from today.

·         Discuss as a family how often you take time to thank God for His many blessings.  How can your family help one another remember to “go back” and thank God?

Family Activity:  We are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We want to take time to remember the many ways God has blessed our family this past year.  We are going to make a Thanksgiving Tree which will display and celebrate our gratitude.  Today we will put together our tree and add the first leaves.  Between now and Thanksgiving we will have blank leaves to add to the tree as we think of additional things.  On Thanksgiving we will read all of our leaves together. 

1.       Secure your tree branch in your pot with rocks or florist foam.

2.       Tie decorative ribbon around your pot if desired.

3.       If you are planning on cutting out paper leaves, trace leaf patterns onto orange, red,  and yellow construction paper and cut out.  Punch a small hole at the top of each leaf and tie ribbon or raffia through the hole.  You will need a total of 15-40 leaves (plan on 5 per person)

4.       To start off your tree, have each family member write out one or two leaves of things they are grateful for. 

5.       Place remaining leaves in a small dish or basket near the tree so family members can add leaves as desired between now and Thanksgiving. 

On Thanksgiving take time to read all the leaves on your tree.  If you have guests coming for Thanksgiving dinner, leave one or two blank leaves at their dinner place so they can participate in your celebration of giving thanks. 

 

Closing Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father:

We desire to be a grateful family.  Lord like the one man who came back to you and praised you, we lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving to you Lord.  You are a good and loving God.  You have showered our family in blessings.  We take time now to each offer our thanks to you...(allow each family member to share as desired and able).  We lift up all of these things to you in great thanksgiving,  in your Son’s precious name.  Amen.