Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

You’re Not Alone

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

Over ten years ago, my cousin Jonathan was rushed to the Children’s Hospital in Chicago where his life lay in the balance. Of course, his family as well as our entire extended family was deeply concerned. Even as the doctors studied to diagnose and treat the infection, they warned the family of the seriousness of his condition.

Meanwhile, my uncle and aunt were juggling time in the hospital, time at home with the other seven children (who were all too young to be allowed in the room), multiple jobs, and paper routes. For one week of this time, I was able to travel to their home and relieve my aunt and uncle of home duties as well as a precious few of the job duties. My cousins and I made lots of memories that week…most of which I sincerely hope they won’t share. (That includes the “gooky” cereal, Kirsten! :))

But one moment took place which I will never forget.  Continue reading →

A Good Kind of Greedy

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

I’m learning the beauty of a word that I used to limit: grace.

Of course, we know that God is gracious, and we are thankful for that; but I am discovering that His graciousness impacts far more of my life than I used to think.

We know that it is through His grace that we are saved.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.—Ephesians 2:8–9

And if you’re in church at all, it’s not difficult to know that people who are hurting or grieving need grace. Just listen to public prayers, and you’ll understand that grace is for people who have lost a loved one.

But in recent years, I’ve begun to see grace in a fuller light. I’m learning that grace is not limited to salvation and loss. Ephesians 2:7 uses the phrase “the exceeding riches of his grace.” Continue reading →

Ahhh…

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

This past summer, I had the best experience ever at Subway…and it had nothing to do with Subway.

I was with my family for a few days, and I had the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with my dad. I came to the table with an agenda—literally. I had three questions I had been waiting to talk with him about until we had one-on-one time to ourselves.

Two of the questions were trite. But one was big to me. In fact, it wasn’t even a question at all, it was an issue.

I always cherish time spent with my dad, but this time, I needed it. I shared with him something that had been weighing my spirit, and I listened as he gave me his take on it. We talked for a long time. Subway employees began cleaning the counters and checking the doors to be sure they were locked (subtle signs that they wanted us to leave). We relocated to the car and continued talking. We even turned the heater on once we had sat in the car long enough to get chilled. Continue reading →

Mind-Boggling Wonder

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

Try to wrap your mind around one word for just thirty seconds. Here it is: eternal.

God is eternal.

Eternal never ends. That means even if you lived as long as Methuselah (969 years to be exact), you wouldn’t live as long as God.

But what’s more, is that eternal never started! Even if you never died, you wouldn’t live as long as God. He had a head start. Actually, He didn’t start. He always was.

Mind-boggling, isn’t it?

But it’s also wonderful.

Because God is eternal… Continue reading →

Peas, DNA, and Delight

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

It was one of the most brilliant ideas of my young life…or at least the best idea of that long lunch.

I was born not liking peas. Try as hard as I might (which wasn’t very hard) to change my tastes, I couldn’t. It must be part of my DNA.

Before I was even old enough to reason through likes and dislikes, I knew that peas were not to be ingested—not by me, anyway. My mom has tales of how as a two-year-old, I would store peas in the sides of my cheeks refusing to swallow them. She says that when we had mixed vegetables, I could even sort the peas out from the corn and carrots while they were all in my mouth and swallow the corn and carrots while storing the peas. Apparently, I even once kept supper peas in my cheeks undetected until morning. Another time, a distraught nursery worker returned me to my parents with full cheeks of peas.

It took me a few years, but one day at lunch, I had a brilliant idea of what to do with my peas. My oldest sister, Nichole, was in charge, and both of my parents were gone. Peas had been served with lunch, and everyone else had long since finished. There I sat at the table with peas staring at me. (And peas make such awful faces when they stare.) Continue reading →

Fresh Daily

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Note: This blog is part of a Thanksgiving series of blogs highlighting attributes of God for which I am thankful.

Ring. The phone announced a Saturday morning caller.

“Hello, Bass residence, this is Michele speaking,” my sister answered the phone.

“Hi, Marcy.”

“Right now?”

“Ohhhh.”

“Yes, we will pray immediately. Talk to you later. Bye.”

We all waited to hear Michele relate the other end of her phone conversation with Marcy. “Marcy’s aunt and two cousins are visiting from out of state. Her aunt is not saved, so Marcy’s dad is witnessing to her right now. They would like us to pray that there won’t be any distractions and that her aunt will be saved.” Continue reading →

Outside the Box

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I’ve always wanted to be an inventor. My co-worker, Sarah, and I even invented a fantastic piece of equipment that would enable under-the-desk exercise at work. Unfortunately, her sister burst our bubble when she sent us a link to a company that already made our invention. Oh well, that just freed our minds to focus on even more important inventions (which we never did).

Although I’ve never been willing to invest the time or resources into seeing my (brilliant) inventions to market, I do value ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking. I like to see someone take a bold strike at an established pattern and redefine the future.

Allan and Michele already stole two of my “B” words in their comments under yesterday’s post, so I was forced to think outside of the box today. I chose a word I’ve never thought of in relation to God before: Bold.

I’ve been reading through the gospels recently, and Jesus’ boldness has stood out in so many ways. Continue reading →

In the Truest Sense of the Word

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My mom wasn’t much for me using the word awesome. It wasn’t forbidden, you know, like stupid, but it was reserved. She said awesome should only be for that which was truly magnificent.

For instance, the pile of leaves in the yard was not awesome.

A surprise cup of warm apple cider was not awesome.

Thanksgiving itself wasn’t even quite awesome. Continue reading →

Participating in NaThaMo

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Fiction writers know that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a fifty thousand word novel in November’s thirty days.

With a few exceptions, I don’t care much for novels—they’re just not my preferred genre of reading. So I have zero intention of writing a novel this month.

But I do love November—a lot. I am a writer, and I do love a challenge.

So, I’ve decided to create my own special month—NaThaMo. You can probably guess that it stands for National Thanksgiving Month.

Here’s the premise. Thanksgiving is far too grand a holiday to be confined to a single day. A holiday with this potential should definitely be celebrated for an entire month. Continue reading →