A Heart for Home - Thanksgiving Entry

A Heart for Home

Dec. 3, 2007 - Thanksgiving Entry

**See my post below this, it's my blog introduction!**

Even though my post comes over a week from the "Day"!

, yes, this is my Thanksgiving entry.

Really though, isn't every day to be a day of thanksgiving?

"O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever." (Psalm 30:12b)
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Tracing back the roots* of our English word "thank", I discovered it is related to an Anglo-Saxon word that means "thought". Do our thoughts reflect thanksgiving toward God, "rejoicing always"? Are we praising Him in the temple of our minds?

The words "thanksgiving" and "thanks" are synonyms of the word, "gratitude." You know where "gratitude" is derived from, right? Just sound it out. . .gratitude. . .grati. . .gratis. . .grace. (Okay, maybe it wasn't easy for you to sound out. That's just how I try to figure out words, having been taught by a mom who sent me to the dictionary to find definitions and derivations very often! I have a working familiarity with some common Latin roots as a result of consultations with our 1934 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.)

That's right, "gratitude" comes from "grace." Isn't that really true--doesn't our thankfulness to God stem from the grace He bestows? His graciousness--whether it be in creating & sustaining the universe, creating & sustaining you and me, or supplying all the many blessings we often enjoy like food, clothing, shelter, fresh air, sunshine, bird songs, beautiful flowers, etc.--is part of His nature and one of the myriad reasons that He is worthy to be praised. And specifically, those of who are Christians are (or should be) overwhelmed with gratitude & thanksgiving because of His grace in saving us from sin & eternal death, and changing our nature so that we can fellowship with Him on earth & in future in Heaven.

Also, something beautiful that I discovered is that the word "grace" comes from a Latin word meaning "beloved." He is gracious to us because He loves us.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. . . ." (Ephesians 1:2-8a)

Thank you, God!
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I hope to share more about how I spent my Thanksgiving Day & a few more specific things I'm thankful for, another day.
* P.S. I originally (mistakenly) had "roosts" here. I caught the error pretty quickly, but can anyone tell I have chickens?

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The ponderings of an old-fashioned country-gal-at-heart who loves Jesus. He is my LIFE and I want to serve Him for the length of my days--and through all eternity!!! (see Deuteronomy 30:20) I'm an almost-graduated homeschooler and a daughter serving her family at home. God has given me first of all, a heart for HOME--a born-again, saved-by-His-precious-sovereign-grace-and-mercy heart, a heart that longs to be with Him in its eternal HOME, Heaven! And He has given me a desire to embrace His precious design for women as revealed in His Word the Bible. I hope and desire to one day be a faithful wife and mother, a keeper-at-home and husband-heart-trust*, if God brings this about. But if not, I will serve Him faithfully as a single woman as 1 Corinthians 7 refers to. However He leads me, I have a heart for home--to see men and women embracing God's design for life, for marriage, for child-raising, and to do my part to shed His light and love in my home and in my interactions with others. I pray my writings here will be an encouragement to any readers to seek God in all circumstances. * :-) See Proverbs 31:11