Today’s Thanksgiving celebrations are quite different from the first one when Pilgrims harvested a bountiful crop after months of near starvation, disease, and death. With their newfound Native American friends, they gathered for a days-long feast in honor of God’s faithfulness to bring them safely through a time of great loss. 

Our celebrations don’t always fall into cultural expectations of large family gatherings around an overabundance of food followed by a football game or a turkey-induced nap. It’s inevitable that traditions change as families grow and adult children build their own traditions. Sometimes grandparents whose families are unavailable to share a meal might find themselves celebrating over a dinner for two, or perhaps dining alone. While these options may be quite satisfying, they do put a new twist on ways of getting to the heart of thankfulness present at the first Thanksgiving. It may be time to find new ways of sharing our thanks to the Lord for what He has done for us.

Consider these opportunities:

• Churches and community groups frequently organize meal deliveries to local families who might otherwise not have resources to prepare a Thanksgiving spread. You could volunteer to help prepare or distribute meals. This affords time to pray for or with someone who might desperately need fellowship – or to hear God’s message of salvation.
• Set an extra plate or two at your table. Single parent families, or single individuals might relish an invitation for dinner or dessert. Is there someone you know who might be spending Thanksgiving alone? Prayerfully consider inviting them to join you. A simple meal will do, so you don’t need to spend the entire day in the kitchen.
• Check local assisted living centers. Often, elderly residents are not visited by family members who live far away. They might welcome a visit and a reminder that they have not been forgotten.

Even those of us who do gather with family can put these same ideas into practice. As grandparents, there are practical ways to demonstrate how we share the love of Christ beyond our families. Truthfully, you don’t need to wait for a holiday to disciple younger ones in these ways. 

What if: 

• You made it a recurring habit to take the grandkids to visit an assisted living center where you read or sing songs and hymns to residents?
• Your family befriends a single person to join you for occasional meals at holidays or on ordinary weekdays?
• Your grandchildren offer to rake leaves or shovel snow for a neighbor without being paid.
• You offer to drive an elderly or disabled person to the grocery store, doctor’s office, or other places they may need to go. Have your grandchildren assist them by carrying packages or steadying them as they walk.

These are a few ideas how you might train up children to display Christ’s love in practical ways to those around you. Remind them how Jesus taught us to serve others in Matthew 20:28, “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” or Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Your training might even become an inter-generational legacy that is passed down from your grandchildren to their children. What a beautiful legacy of Christ’s love this would be. 

At its heart, Thanksgiving is a celebration of worship to the Lord, who provides for all our needs.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.