Turkey Talk

Turkeys. Today in kindergarten we made BIG turkeys. We read stories about turkeys, including my favorite written in the form of "The Night Before Christmas". In this story, children visit a farm and make friends with the turkeys. When they realize the farmer is going to butcher the turkeys for Thanksgiving, they rescue them by stuffing them under their shirts and smuggling them out of the farm and into their homes. The final scene contains silhouettes of the families sitting down to dinner with their honored guests. Each table includes a turkey as a Thanksgiving guest,not the main entree. Thus, the turkeys had much to be thankful for on the holiday. The story introduces or reinforces the idea of thankfulness. In public school, this is an acceptable discussion because thankfulness is a generic term. If you don't state who the recipient of those thanks is, you're good. It's politically correct. Public school has changed a great deal since I first started as a new teacher back in 1979. I was telling a couple of kindergarten teachers today that we used to give the children coloring sheets of the nativity, and they were amazed by that. The only time they discuss anything remotely Christian with the children is when a child initiates it. Even then, they are wise to just nod or give a short general reply. As we were dramatically shown last week, being politically correct is pretty important in the governing of our country. The majority of people who won are not openly vocal about their biblical beliefs, if they even have them. Many if not most of them are pro women's rights (especially in the area of abortion), pro gay rights, and seem to have little regard for controlling spending. I won't go all political on you now, but you can probably guess how I feel about that. Anyway, being thakful is popular in all circles. My fear is that our expressions of thankfullness need to be to the appropriate benefactor. All we have to be thankful for comes from our merciful God. Period. He gives us more than we could ever hope to deserve, and then heaps on more. He is generous beyond measure. Even the difficult times He allows in our lives are for our ultimate benefit. And yet, we tend to be thankful mostly at this culturally appropriate time. The word 'thanks'occurs 81 times in the NIV. Many of the verses express thankfullness for 'His love that endures forever' and His 'great deeds'. Even Jesus always gave thanks to the Father before breaking bread. Ephesians 5:20 says: .....always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Always giving thanks. Always means more than November 1 through the 30th. A popular Facebook tradition has people listing things they are thankful for each day of the month of November. It is a good thing to do to express what and to Whom we are thankful. Some even express thnks for the Savior and our Lord. Some don't. Our posts usually start out with 'I am thankful for......'. Sounds generic and politically correct. We must, I believe, do a couple of things better in being thankful. First, as Christians, we should always express to whom our thanks belong. While giving honor to our God, it is also a great way to witness. Secondly, Ephesians tells us to ALWAYS give thanks to God. Daily. Moment by moment. A truly thankful heart expresses those thanks to the Giver of those things we love on a daily, even hourly, basis. It makes known to Whom our thanks are given. And it appreciates the little things in life. How thankful are you, REALLY? I know I can certainly improve in this area. I need to remember to be more than politically correct, and to be BIBLICALLY correct in my thanksgiving. Expressing thanks with every breath to the true Giver of all I have to be thankful for. And it's so much more than turkey.......

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