Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us... While what we call 'our own life' remains agreeable, we will not surrender it to Him. What, then, can God do in our interests but make 'our own life' less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible sources of false happiness?
C. S. Lewis
Thanksgiving was a day of surrendering. My three grandchildren who wanted to come over and "help" me before dinner came at 9:00am. I surrendered to the idea that I was going to keep them involved for six hours. The pie I wanted to make, gluten free, had a life of it's own and became pumpkin without a true recipe and without a promised outcome. It was eatable and disappeared. I will never be able to make it the same way again because it just evolved.
The turkey which I bought fresh a week ago and then decided to freeze still had ice chunks inside. My grandson liked rubbing it with coconut oil and spices. He put a ham slice inside because he wanted to see what would happen. I surrendered my expectations and it was really good.
In the last half hour before eating, my knees needed to rest and I let my husband take over. He finished the mashed potatoes, made the gravy, prepared the food to go into dishes and led us in our giving thanks statements. Usually I do it all with noticeable frustration. I surrendered and others came to my aid.
Later I suggested a game called Famous People which is a great crowd game. I noticed how my family participated wholeheartedly. I took time to see each member's ability and humor. In the past, some participants have left the game mad. We had some issues yesterday but the majority of the family stayed engaged and working as a team.
Over controlling our lives is really a false happiness. False because we set ourselves expectations which often remain unrealized. Then, as we mourn what could have been we miss the little miracles provided by others in our behalf. I had time to feel truly thankful.
I have been writing with the Five Minute Friday Group for two years and I really enjoy the talented writers who share their work. Would you like to join us?
I tried something new this year. I made my mashed potatoes early in the morning, and then put some butter pats and a little half n half in the bottom of the crockpot. I set it on low and put the already mashed potatoes inside. I also used a crockpot liner. Closer to our meal around 1:00 I set it on warm. They were delicious and I wasn't having to mash them at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteWhat a novel idea.
DeleteSounds like you made some great memories.
ReplyDeleteWe did and I am grateful.
DeleteIt's funny how we often think we have to control things to be happy when really there is much more joy and freedom in surrender. I'm glad you had a happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteWhy do we struggle so hard against surrendering to let others give us aid? I'm grateful to know that people stepped up to help. I hold on to that hope. I'm thinking of test driving your five-minute Fridays. I want to see how I do (I'm not good at just writing and always feel compelled to go back and edit instead of moving forward with the writing) first.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can be as fun a grandmother as you were on Thanksgiving. (My kids are not married yet, so I have a little time to "grow up" by learning to be more chill.) "Ham in the turkey just to see what would happen." What happened? It could be the next new trend, right?
ReplyDeleteI made gluten-free pies this year, and it turned out better than I expected. (Oh, the wonders of a new recipe.) But I had a lot of help in the kitchen too. I can't say I completely made anything for Thanksgiving dinner. We all chipped in, and that was fine by me. Maybe I should have had my littlest one more in the kitchen. Thank you for letting me see the wonder of surrender on Thanksgiving.