True Thanksgiving

As we head into the holiday weekend, it can be a difficult time encountering family and extended family (I know nothing about this-mind you) with years of hurt and past difficulties rising to the surface as you pull into the driveway.

I was reading this passage by Henri Nouwen this morning and thought it might be a nice reflection and give purpose to the weekend should you have a moment (and I would encourage you to) to pause, read this and ask God to let you have this as your worship to him this weekend.

Judgement

"We spend countless hours making up our minds about others. An unceasing exchange of opinion about people close or far away keeps us distracted and allows us to ignore the truth that we ourselves are the first ones who need a change of heart and probably the only ones whose hearts can indeed change.

We always say again: "What about him? What about her? What Jesus says to us, as he said to Peter, who always wanted to know what would happen to John, "What does it matter to you? You are the follow me." (John 21:21-22)

Imagine your having no need at all to judge anybody. Imagine your having no desire to decide whether someone is a good or bad person. Imagine your being completely free from the feeling that you have to make up your mind about the morality of someone's behavior. Imagine you could say, "I am judging no one!"

Imagine-wouldn't that be true inner freedom? The desert fathers from the fourth century said, "Judging others is a heavy burden." I have had a few moments in my life during which I felt free from all judgements about others. It felt as if a heavy burden had been taken away from me. At those moments I experienced a deep love for everyone I met, heard about, or read about. A deep solidarity with all people and a deep desire to love them broke down my inner walls and made my heart as wide as the universe...

We all have these moments if we are attentive to the movement of God's Spirit within us. They are like glimpses of heaven, glimpses of beauty and peace. It is easy to dismiss these moments as products of ours dreams or poetic imagination. But when we choose to claim them as God's way of tapping us on our shoulders and showing us the deepest truth of our existence, we can gradually step beyond our need to judge others and our inclination to evaluate everybody and everything. Then we can grow toward real inner freedom and real sanctity."

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

pages 60-61

Menu Planning

Our family, just like every family in America is busy wrapping up work today and tomorrow so that they can be free to enjoy the holiday week and gorge themselves on food.

I believe that we can put stack our menu up against anyone else's menu in a Food Network "Showdown Throwdown" if necessary in order to maintain our standing as the family that makes the most delicious amount of food possible.

The emails have been flying for about two weeks now and this is where we have landing most recently:

turkey & dressing & gravy - Linda

fried turkey - steve

ham - Buffy

appetizer - Leslie

brie/pecan/kahlua appetizer - Jeannie

oyster souflee - Linda

macaroni - Judy

sweet potatoes - Judy

green veggie - Judy

sour cream muffins - Judy

squash casserole - suzy

pea salad - suzy

side dish/casserole - Leslie

'healthy' sweet potatoes - Mary Lane

'healthy' collards - Mary Lane

cherry cream cheese pie - Buffy

nana's yellow cake/choc icing - Jeannie

nana pound cake - Leslie

pecan pie tarts - Judy

s'mores by the firepit - s & s

My most favorite lines have been highlighted in bold for you all to take delight in as well. My sister-in-law Mary Lane has a reputation for being "healthier" than the rest of us. Thus, her food has been labeled as "healthy" as opposed to artery clogging fat fest that the rest of us are bringing to the party.

Know what I say?

Belly up to the table people! Bring it on!

However, I do think for sake of the email and party planning sanity I think that we ought to transition to a Google Document for next year. Just my nerdy two cents :)

Heavenly Thanksgiving

We had a heavenly Thanksgiving weekend thanks to our kids being really amazing, an incredible feast with family in Columbia, a road trip to Orlando, three days in 80 degree weather and a magical night at Disney World.

I have plenty of thoughts to come on all of that (to come soon!) but I have been editing a little snippet for you to get a snapshot of our weekend. Enjoy!