I'm back! It's not that I actually went anywhere, but I've been mostly absent from the blog for the month of October. Hosting four rounds of company in one month took almost all the spare time in the Hardy home. Needless to say, we are happy to send October packing and usher in the new month of November.
This time of year is our favorite at the Hardy house, as we celebrate this season of thanks. We've hosted a large meal for many friends (and a few times family) when we've often run out of room at two tables and had friends feasting around a coffee table. It's been cramped (in our 1-bedroom apartment in San Diego), tropical and crowded in our duplex in Pearl Harbor and cold and rainy in Charleston. No matter what, there has always been a large meal and invitations set forth to everyone we knew. A few times, we've been privileged to host family at this time, but most Thanksgivings at our home have been filled with co-workers with their families and neighbors. No matter who the guests have been, we've always focused on the reason for the season and celebrated God's blessings.
Now that our children are growing up, we want to pass this on to them. We have a book, gifted to us last year by my mother, that we've already brought out for nightly readings. I pray that Abigail and Cooper both grow up learning about God's blessings for us, and this is a perfect time to focus on that. Throughout this month, we will record a reason to be thankful each day. At the end of the week, Abigail will tell us something she is most thankful for, and we will collect those items until December.
After focusing on the blessings God's given us, in December we will begin focusing on the greatest blessing of all, Christ, and teach our children of the love God showed us by sending us His son. We'll find some charities for Abigail to donate the items she collected during November, and hopefully begin teaching her to show God's love to others. We never want Christmas to be about Santa Claus or anything commercial, and we'll look every year for a way to focus on giving, as God gave to us, which is our greatest blessing we are thankful for. Until then, we'll keep focusing on giving thanks.
I hope you'll also not make this month about turkey and pies, but about giving thanks and praise. If not because I've asked you to, but because a man much wiser than I am, declared it. It was 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of national "Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Surely we can spare a month out of the year, and not just a day, to focus solely on God's blessings.
This time of year is our favorite at the Hardy house, as we celebrate this season of thanks. We've hosted a large meal for many friends (and a few times family) when we've often run out of room at two tables and had friends feasting around a coffee table. It's been cramped (in our 1-bedroom apartment in San Diego), tropical and crowded in our duplex in Pearl Harbor and cold and rainy in Charleston. No matter what, there has always been a large meal and invitations set forth to everyone we knew. A few times, we've been privileged to host family at this time, but most Thanksgivings at our home have been filled with co-workers with their families and neighbors. No matter who the guests have been, we've always focused on the reason for the season and celebrated God's blessings.
Now that our children are growing up, we want to pass this on to them. We have a book, gifted to us last year by my mother, that we've already brought out for nightly readings. I pray that Abigail and Cooper both grow up learning about God's blessings for us, and this is a perfect time to focus on that. Throughout this month, we will record a reason to be thankful each day. At the end of the week, Abigail will tell us something she is most thankful for, and we will collect those items until December.
After focusing on the blessings God's given us, in December we will begin focusing on the greatest blessing of all, Christ, and teach our children of the love God showed us by sending us His son. We'll find some charities for Abigail to donate the items she collected during November, and hopefully begin teaching her to show God's love to others. We never want Christmas to be about Santa Claus or anything commercial, and we'll look every year for a way to focus on giving, as God gave to us, which is our greatest blessing we are thankful for. Until then, we'll keep focusing on giving thanks.
I hope you'll also not make this month about turkey and pies, but about giving thanks and praise. If not because I've asked you to, but because a man much wiser than I am, declared it. It was 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of national "Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Surely we can spare a month out of the year, and not just a day, to focus solely on God's blessings.
1 comment:
And thanks for sharing this!
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