God Moves In Mysterious Ways: Thanksgiving

I went to sleep last night thinking about all that had to be done this Thanksgiving morning:

• My precious husband getting our barbecue started at 6:30 to start smoking the turkey–he’s done this for over 20 years so we all can enjoy the most amazing melt-in-your-mouth turkey you ever experienced!
• Pull out the gluten-free pie crust a friend made (thank you Ellen!) to be turned into a Kentucky Pecan Pie to share with another friend who will be joining us later in the day with her husband Bill–(love you Stephanie!)
• Cut up 4 loaves of bread, onions and celery to make our very traditional Bread Stuffing that has more butter in it than anyone will ever get me to admit–thank you Betty Crocker!
• Tidy up the messes I left last night (I ran out of steam!) before family and friends join us for dinner–can’t wait to for the fun to begin Steve, Kara, Matt, James, Jack, Tom and Dona!

I woke up this morning with those thoughts still on my mind but they were in the far distance.  I woke up this morning with the words to a very old hymn on my mind: “Now Thank We All Our God!”  (Written in the 1600’s by Martin Rinkart to minister to the sick and dying during the German Thirty Years War.)  What changed between last night and this morning?  My perspective.  Last night I watched a television special on the devastation of Hurricane Sandy that hit just north of us.  This morning I was hit by the full impact of God’s grace this Thanksgiving Day:

• Praying for so many who are still suffering major losses from the storm
• Grateful for a home to welcome family and friends to . . . a husband to fix our turkey . . . for being spared but not sure why . . . .

I woke up this morning replacing “Turkey Day” with Thanksgiving: to a God who works in mysterious ways.  Savor the words dear friends and be blessed:

Now Thank We All Our God 

Now thank we all our God,
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother’s arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns,
With them in highest heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

All to His Glory!