Thanksgiving is a special day in the Sheffield household. We have one daughter, five grandchildren and eight grandchildren. They all like to come to Granny and Grampy’s house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. How blessed we are with our family. God is so good. We are very grateful for the blessings of having all the family together.
We always have turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving. Our daughter and grandchildren provide the rest of the dinner menu. It is always good, and we always have enough. God is so good!
But Thanksgiving is more than turkey and dressing. We always express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the privilege of being together. The grandchildren love to talk and share. They seem to have a lot of fun being together. Of course, Annette and I love to hear their stories about what is happening in their lives. Annette will always have plenty of toys and games for the young grandchildren. They love being with her very much.
Again, Thanksgiving is more than just being together as a family and having a lot of food and fun. It is more of a God-thing. I am always reminded of God’s goodness to us. It makes me think of several scriptures related to being thankful. Here are a few scriptures that have meaning to me during the Thanksgiving season. (All scriptures are quoted from the NIV.)
- Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
- Colossians 4:2: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
- I Thessalonians 5: 16-18: “Rejoice, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
- Psalms 100: 4-5: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
To go along with these scriptures, I’m most thankful for Jesus Christ and the price He paid for my salvation. Perhaps this should be the center of our Thanksgiving.
I am also thankful for my wonderful wife. She has been a constant companion for almost sixty-five years. We have had a lot of ups and downs through the years; but we made a commitment to love each other in all kinds of situations, and it has worked. Praise God for a great companion.
We have been blessed by God in so many ways. We had two girls, but we lost our older daughter to COVID-19. Believe me, it was hard to be thankful during that time of loss. We are still working through those issues. Thanksgiving is one of the times we will certainly miss her but having all the family together makes it easier to be thankful for all things.
Our younger daughter, Kellie, is a real blessing. She does many things for us including buying groceries, repairing broken things and helping with our yard work. We could never thank her enough for all she has done to help us.
I am also thankful for the many friends we have. I’ve had the privilege of serving several churches as an interim pastor. In most of those churches, we formed friendships that have lasted for a long time.
In addition, we have a couple that we travel with to Branson, visit and stay at their lake house together and go out to eat together. Annette and I are blessed by this friendship and offer thanks to them and the Lord that we found each other.
Yes, Thanksgiving is a meaningful time for the Sheffield’s. We give thanks and all glory to God. I hope your Thanksgiving will be a great time for you and your family.