Thanksgiving Devotional For Radio Station 2022

Greeting

My name is Joe Kindon and I am the pastor at Diller Mennonite Church. In this moment I want to invite you to take a deep breath and pause with me to reflect on the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Devotional Message

If we look at the world around us it seems that Thanksgiving is often overlooked, especially in the retail industry that seems to go from Halloween to Black Friday right to Christmas! But thanksgiving is a time for us to stop, reflect, and give thanks. For Many of us this thanksgiving will be a milestone for us, it may be the first time our full family is gathering since the pandemic, it may be the first time we gather after the recent loss of a loved one, for many of us the journey through the past year has not been easy. Yet, as Christians it is still good for us to pause and be thankful, even when we go through very difficult times.

This idea reminds me of what the People of Israel Go through when they cross through the Jordan to the promised land. This story comes from Joshua chapters three and four. We dont know exactly where the people crossed, but the river at its widest part is 15 miles wide, at its most narrow less than 100 feet. The Lord tells Joshua that the people are going to walk across the Jordan river on dry land. Joshua says to the people of Israel, the lord will do amazing things tomorrow. Then the next day God allows them to cross the river on dry land. They are able to do this because God goes before them in the ark. When the people all make it across safety God says to Joshua that the people must do something to remember this day.

So Joshua gathers one man from each of the 12 tribes and tells them to get a stone from the middle of the river and create a monument to remember what God did on this day. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

This Year as you sit around the table with friends and family. Id encourage you to take a moment to reflect and share. What were some of the difficult moments that God brought your family through this year? What challenges have you faced as a family this year? Most of all what are you thankful for this year.

A neat activity you can do with your family is build a monument on your property with rocks to commemorate all the Lord has done for you in the year 2022. If you dont have stones to build a monument you could build a plate full of thankfulness. Instead of just filling our plates with turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. We should fill our plate with thankfulness. We can do this as we serve the meal As you go around the dinner table and place something on your plate. After you put an item on your plate say something you are thankful for. For example, after you put mashed potatoes on your plate, “ I am thankful for the wonderful music played on WPFG”. That way by the time you have your plate full of food you also have a plate full of thankfulness.

It’s a practice that could become a new family and friends tradition, its also a practice that you can share for generations! One day, your grandchild might stop and ask, why do we do this at Thanksgiving every year, you can respond. We stop each year to remember all that God has done and brought us through and we are thankful! Thank you so much for listening. Again I am pastor Joe from Diller Mennonite Church and I hope you have a blessed thanksgiving!