I love Thanksgiving! It is a busy season and one full of opportunities. It is not only a time of giving thanks for all God has worked in our lives, but also a time of family and friends. It is a time to fellowship and to also connect with those we have lost touch with over the course of the busy year.
I have found a troubling trend among the Christian groups I have had a privilege of being a part of off and on for the last several years. Many of the Christian women are not cooking special holiday meals but are serving regular day to day fare to their husband and children. Some are staying home on the holidays just so they do not have to reciprocate in following years.
Many call Thanksgiving a time of gluttony, forgetting about the many Jewish feast days celebrated in Christ's time. They are refusing to cook because they feel it will lead their family to be gluttons.
Gluttony is a sin, but it doesn't automatically go together with a celebration. One can be a glutton over a box of cookies just as easily as one could with turkey and dressing. Saying you are not cooking because you feel it encourages gluttony is poor reason not to serve your family a holiday meal. I can't imagine anyone saying they would not cook for an ill person or a family who has lost a loved one because it might encourage them to overeat since they are undergoing a stressful period. I can't imagine anyone refusing to serve the homeless because they might gorge themselves on the meal because they might not get another in a while. How come those situations are ministries, but serving our family is a considered leading them into sin? That's like saying you won't groom yourself because it encourages vanity.
Why aren't Christian mothers seeing Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter as times for ministering to their family through God's gift and provision of food and their cooking talents? Let's choose instead to see these times as opportunities to slow down and bless the beautiful people that we are so blessed to share our lives with by serving them wholesome, full course, home cooked meals. Encourage your whole family, within reason, to contribute to the menu. Take just these three days to "go all out" in the kitchen for your family.
Before each holiday, my older children ask me if I will make their favorite dish. I look forward to seeing their joy in what I am doing for them. In other words, I get blessed by blessing them! When you give a gift in Christ's name, you get one in return.
I have found a troubling trend among the Christian groups I have had a privilege of being a part of off and on for the last several years. Many of the Christian women are not cooking special holiday meals but are serving regular day to day fare to their husband and children. Some are staying home on the holidays just so they do not have to reciprocate in following years.
Many call Thanksgiving a time of gluttony, forgetting about the many Jewish feast days celebrated in Christ's time. They are refusing to cook because they feel it will lead their family to be gluttons.
Gluttony is a sin, but it doesn't automatically go together with a celebration. One can be a glutton over a box of cookies just as easily as one could with turkey and dressing. Saying you are not cooking because you feel it encourages gluttony is poor reason not to serve your family a holiday meal. I can't imagine anyone saying they would not cook for an ill person or a family who has lost a loved one because it might encourage them to overeat since they are undergoing a stressful period. I can't imagine anyone refusing to serve the homeless because they might gorge themselves on the meal because they might not get another in a while. How come those situations are ministries, but serving our family is a considered leading them into sin? That's like saying you won't groom yourself because it encourages vanity.
Why aren't Christian mothers seeing Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter as times for ministering to their family through God's gift and provision of food and their cooking talents? Let's choose instead to see these times as opportunities to slow down and bless the beautiful people that we are so blessed to share our lives with by serving them wholesome, full course, home cooked meals. Encourage your whole family, within reason, to contribute to the menu. Take just these three days to "go all out" in the kitchen for your family.
Before each holiday, my older children ask me if I will make their favorite dish. I look forward to seeing their joy in what I am doing for them. In other words, I get blessed by blessing them! When you give a gift in Christ's name, you get one in return.
I encourage you mothers who are considering or embracing the current trend of some internet groups to stop following the flow of "holidays are for gluttons." Let's look at cooking holiday meals as a ministry to those you love. Let's not push aside our family or make excuses because of our exhaustion or laziness. The love we show them will last an eternity. If you were looking for a time to rest over the holiday, I encourage you to cook the Thanksgiving meal and cook enough to last a few days. You will still get a nice rest over the holiday, but without sacrificing the joy it gives them through the ministry of food. What better way to show our gratitude for the way Christ served us than by being the hands and feet of Christ while we serve our own families?
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" 1 Corinthians 10:31
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecclesiastes 9:10
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phillipians 2:3-4
