Thanksgiving Power Lunch

What image comes to your mind when you think of having a “power lunch?” Maybe two yuppie businessmen negotiating stock investments as they chow down French Dip roast beef sandwiches? Or perhaps two women executives at an upscale sushi bar making decisions on the next corporate merger?

I’d like to suggest a new image to consider—Thanksgiving dinner! 

Thirteen times in the Psalms we find the phrase “give thanks to the Lord.” Every single time, however it is coupled with the encouragement to remember—to recall the great and wonderful things God has done in the past that give us reason to thank Him today.  Some of those Psalms go on for thirty or forty verses, enumerating instances of God’s faithfulness throughout the history of Israel.

What struck me today as I read Psalm 105 was the connection between remembrance and strength. “Seek the Lord and his strength,” the psalmist says in verse 4. The next verse explains how to do that: “Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered…” I’m not sure I have seen that link before, but the very act of remembering God’s actions in the past gives strength to face the challenges of today. This was dramatically illustrated in I Samuel 30 where David and his men despaired over the capture of their wives and families by the Amalekites at Ziklag. So bitter were his men over the incident that they were ready to stone and kill David. But then, the story tells us, “David found strength in the Lord.”  I’m positive that strength was the result of remembering the many times God had helped them face and overcome equally trying situations before. Armed with those recollections, David had the strength to muster his men anew and pursue the enemy until every single loved one was rescued.

At our breakfast table this morning, Anita and I strolled through a list of memories from this past year—from highlights with grandchildren to a significant and unexpected career change last summer. Through all of it, however, we sensed how God has been at work in each circumstance. Today, as we face new directions for our lives and future ministries, we stand firm in our Christian faith, finding strength and power for tomorrow in these important reminders of God’s faithfulness in the past.

So here’s a little formula to think about as you approach the rest of this day of celebration: T à R à S or THANKFULNESS leads to REMEMBERING leads to STRENGTH.

I hope as you sit down with family and friends at your Thanksgiving meal today, as we will in a few hours, you will take the time to go around the table and have each share what they are thankful to God for during this past year. I’m confident that simple little exercise of remembering will result in everyone being strengthened with renewed power to face the challenges of today and beyond.

You’ve got to admit, that makes Thanksgiving the ultimate “power lunch!”

Under His wings,

Jon