Thanksgiving Cleanup!

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever!” Psalm 136:1

So the conversation started with the painful statement, “Mom, with this new job, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home for Thanksgiving!”

As my children have evolved into adulthood, I have been forced to become accustomed to change. Those treasured family memories of everyone always being together have become more sporadic due to employment, relocations, and marriage. However, this would be the first Thanksgiving without our youngest in attendance!

My heart sank at the thought of her not being home, but my mom’s brain realized that the new job was more important than a family dinner.

A few weeks after this conversation, my daughter learned that she actually would be able to take time off for Thanksgiving. However, instead of sharing that information with me, she devised a plan to surprise me and planned to just show up to dinner. In addition, she also thought this would be a great time to add to the excitement and bring home a new friend that she’s been dating, so all of us could meet him!

Praise God the voice of reason spoke loudly in my husband’s brain as my daughter explained her plans to him! “Teenie, knowing your mother and how she likes things when people come over, I just don’t think this is something you surprise her with!”

I must admit, our house is usually pretty tidy, but when Kristine comes home, it’s not like I’m spending a significant amount of time deep cleaning in preparation for her arrival. In fact, she’s lucky if I freshen up her sheets! But to have a total stranger that we are meeting for the very first time stay in our basement, that’s a different story! So now that I am aware that they are coming, the carpets are getting cleaned, the toddler toys have been relocated, the furniture has been dusted, and all of the clothes that hang on the ping pong table. which also conveniently serves as my drying rank, have now been put away. We are now ready for guests and our Thanksgiving festivities!

However, I think there are times when the Lord also wants me to do some spiritual deep cleaning as well. If I am honest with myself, there are times where some piles of fear have collected in the back of my mind. When I look closely, I can also find a dusting of worry or a stain of hurt that has left a spot of bitterness. I can also detect crumbs of impatience that collected have made larger messes of frustration and anger, while strong fumes of busyness have caused me to become distracted and lose my focus on Jesus.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, it is also a great time for some deep spiritual cleaning to cleanse our minds of things that are not of God as we acknowledge and express our gratitude for all that God has done for us! This year has presented challenges due to COVID, but our God is bigger than COVID! He has been and will continue to be faithful, and He constantly showers us with blessings on a daily basis.

Praying that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrataion!

In His Love,
Mrs. Palka

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