This is it \u2014 Thanksgiving Week! My heart is already doing cartwheels — and so is my kitchen. I\u2019ve already gotten the call from my son: \u201cMom, PLEASE make your dressing — and your cheese ball — and don\u2019t forget the artichoke dip!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then my daughter chimed in from East Texas:
\u201cCHEESE BALL!\u201d (I\u2019m beginning to think I am the Cheeseball Queen of the Southwest.) And, “Please make Larry’s favorite — Carrot Cake!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between now and Thursday, my oven will barely get a nap. Shortbread wreath cookies\u2026 DoubleTree cookies\u2026 Snickerdoodles\u2026 chocolate toffee \u201ccrack.\u201d If sugar were a love language, I\u2019d be fluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But before I charge into full-force Martha mode \u2014 apron on, mixer humming, pecans flying \u2014 I need a Mary moment. A pause. A breath. A quiet thank You to the One who makes all this joy possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year because it pulls our hearts back to center. Back to gratitude. Back to God. Yes, the turkey is delicious and the pumpkin pie — well, it deserves its own holiday. But this week isn\u2019t really about food. It\u2019s about focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m thankful that America \u2014 with all her complicated history and current chaos \u2014 still sets aside a national day for giving thanks. In a world where people argue about everything from Christmas decorations to the Ten Commandments, I\u2019m grateful Thanksgiving hasn\u2019t been canceled by the \u201cLet\u2019s-remove-everything-sacred\u201d committee. (Don\u2019t give them any ideas.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But here we are \u2014 still blessed to gather, still free to pray, still able to say, \u201cThank You, Lord,\u201d without apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanksgiving isn\u2019t just a holiday\u2026 it\u2019s a posture. A deep, daily yes to God\u2019s goodness.
It\u2019s waking up and being grateful that:
\u2022 We have a warm bed.
\u2022 We WOKE UP \u2014 because the alternative isn\u2019t nearly as appealing.
\u2022 We get to spend another day loving, giving, serving, hoping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Lincoln got it right when he proclaimed a national day of \u201cThanksgiving and Praise\u201d in 1863. Praise is what lifts our eyes above the headlines. Thanksgiving is what steadies our hearts. And when we put the two together? Joy walks right in and makes herself at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Happy Thanksgiving Week, my precious friends. May gratitude be our rhythm, joy our song, and God our steady foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBlessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.\u201d \u2014 Psalm 33:12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is it \u2014 Thanksgiving Week! My heart is already doing cartwheels — and so is my kitchen. I\u2019ve already gotten the call from my son: \u201cMom, PLEASE make your dressing — and your cheese ball — and don\u2019t forget the artichoke dip!\u201d Then my daughter chimed in from East Texas:\u201cCHEESE BALL!\u201d (I\u2019m beginning to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2438,865,32868,1769,32873,32870,1392,38,40,32871,869,32872,32869,3802,775],"class_list":["post-23270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-blessed-is-the-nation","tag-carrot-cake","tag-christian","tag-christitan","tag-crack","tag-facebook","tag-gratitude","tag-inspiration","tag-mixer","tag-psalm-3312","tag-pumpkin-pie","tag-snickerdoodles","tag-ten-commandments","tag-thanksgiving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23272,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270\/revisions\/23272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}