On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I was feeling grateful for a friend’s visit the previous weekend and another friend’s phone call that morning. God had blessed me with the connection of meaningful relationships.
Now it was time to turn my attention to family, cooking, and home.
One daughter would be returning for her first visit since moving to South Carolina. The newlyweds planned to join us Thanksgiving Day with the extended family and then spend the night. Only one daughter couldn’t make it home. Mississippi was too far to be practical.
I scanned my mental checklist. Homeschool—done for today. Guest beds—freshly sheeted. Calendar—free and clear. House—it’ll never be perfect. I pulled out some meat to thaw for supper.
A memory percolated while I worked. God’s gift to me last Thanksgiving: pancakes together around the table in an unexpected window of time that put my whole family together under one roof for a few hours. What a sweet surprise to a mama’s heart! I savored again God’s ability to align timing and His willingness to bless me like He did.
Late afternoon found me chopping vegetables. Only Bryn was home with me, upstairs, when the porch door closed deliberately.
Realizing only later that perhaps I should have been cautious, I nonchalantly asked, “Who’s that?”
Hope jumped into view. I screamed. My Mississippi girl was standing in my kitchen.
Bryn hollered down the stairs, “Mama, are you ok? Was it a really big spider?”
Way, way better than a spider.
We hugged, and I cried for a good five minutes.
Dara came home the next day. Anna and Philip on Thursday. The whole family—together not just for hours, but DAYS! And Saturday night the dispersion began again, one at a time.
But not before we had gorged ourselves on dinner around a full table, sisters piled together on the same couch, Thanksgiving bonfires and my brother’s fried gator tail, a day at the beach, worship around the piano, prayer time in a circle for the person on your left.
And of course, another round of Thanksgiving pancakes on china dishes and cloth napkins.
Because my God is extravagant. Absolutely extravagant. And when we least expect it, He just outdoes Himself. He’s that good.