Slow Down Thanksgiving
The Bible challenges you to think about slowing down way before the Thanksgiving meal is ended.
The rush is on. Get the turkey stuffed and in the oven. Finalize the cleaning – the kind that takes place only when friends or relatives visit. Make that last minute trip to the store, get to church, and pick up grandma. Lots to do. Gotta get to it.
The thought of slowing down on Thanksgiving doesn’t occur to us until after the big meal. Except for those few folks who can never stand still and just can’t wait to dive into the dirty dishes, the rest of us just want to sit at the table and relax. Or better yet take a nap. The dirty dishes will be there waiting for us. Later.
The Bible challenges you to think about slowing down way before the Thanksgiving meal is ended. To make slowing down part of your entire thanks-giving. Every day.
After the flood Noah disembarked, “built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Genesis 8:20). He gave thanks to the Lord for delivering him and his family, and the many animals, from the flood’s violent destruction. He wasn’t in a hurry to run around on dry ground or roll in solid dirt like a maniac. He didn’t call the animals together for a debriefing session or roll out plans to immediately build a big house. He slowed down and gave thanks.
Noah’s behavior at that moment built upon a patient, trusting faith that he displayed already on the ark. Water had covered the earth for 150 days. That’s 5 months of bad weather! And then it took another 3 months for the murky floodwaters to recede enough that the mountain tops were visible. Noah patiently, trustingly waited for God’s instructions. 40 days later Noah opened a window in the ark and sent out a raven, and then a dove which returned to him indicating there was no dry ground. He waited 7 days and sent out the dove again, which returned with a freshly plucked leaf. He waited 7 more days and sent out the dove again, and this time it didn’t return. So Noah removed the covering of the ark to take in the sight of dry ground all around. Then he waited almost another 2 months! Finally, “God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark’” (Genesis 8:15).
Noah was so thankful while waiting for the floodwaters to recede that he honored God with patient obedience. He would do nothing without God’s command, even if it seemed the right thing to do. God delivered him, after all, and God had every right to be trusted. So Noah thanked him. By patient waiting. By slowing down.
Through it all, God wasn’t just destroying the wicked world. He was working on Noah. All total, Noah occupied the ark for a year and ten days (during which time it had rained constantly for 40 days). Thankful for God’s warning of the oncoming flood. Thankful for his family being with him. Thankful for a safe vessel to carry him and his loved ones and the animals over the fatal floodwaters. Thankful for God’s timing, whatever that might be.
Take time to consider God’s ways and thank him by patiently trusting that he may do his divine work over a longer period of time than your time-conscious schedule might prefer. Slow down your thanks-giving.
PRAYER: Slow me down, Lord. Let me see my thanks not always as a burst reaction to an appreciated occurrence of blessing. But instead, help it to kindle constantly in patient trust. For your ways are better than my ways, and I accept that I will not always understand them. But you are good. You are holy. You are my Father and Provider. For that, I am thankful. Amen.