The Season of Want – Kathy Henry
Psalm 23, 1; 5: The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. My cup runneth over.
Thanksgiving Day falls smack in the middle of the season of want. Halfway between Halloween (I want candy! I want a costume! I want a party!) and Christmas Day (I want toys! I want a new computer! I want a new car!)
When I was a child, there was always a breathing space between holidays. Now, we rush from one to the next. Valentine’s Day trips over Easter as it speeds toward Independence Day. Labor Day is all but overlooked as Halloween comes running up, followed closely Christmas. But perhaps none is as neglected these days as Thanksgiving. Once a 24-hour respite from the rush, Thanksgiving is now just a pit stop before the pre-Christmas sales start late that afternoon. The season of want obscures the day.
I’m guilty. As a kid, I hated Thanksgiving because it meant I had to put up with a house full of family members and didn’t even get presents to assuage the misery. I wanted a reward. I did not understand the beauty of the day—a time to reflect on and be thankful for God filling our cups to the brim and then continuing to pour out blessings until they run over the top and cover us. I am thankful to say that in my maturity, I have come to love Thanksgiving and to understand the importance of just being thankful. My niece Suzanne frequently posts this on her Facebook feed, “Sometimes the only prayer you need to say is, ‘Thank you.’”
David, in this beautiful Psalm, tells us that God is our Shepherd, and like a human shepherd, He cares for his flock and makes sure that every sheep’s need is met. They want for nothing that they need, and their cups overflow. Here’s a story that I love and which seems to illustrate this beautifully. It is a true story.
Dolly Parton comes from a very large family of siblings, all of whom have children. Dolly herself does not have children, but she has something her siblings don’t—money. As the family grew, Dolly told all of her nieces and nephews that if they would stay in school and graduate, she would give them a car. Not a fancy car, just a simple car to take them to school or to work. All of them graduated from high school and got their cars. She told them that if they wanted to go to college, she would pay for that. She would also pay for graduate and post-graduate education. Nearly all of them have graduated from college. Several have gone on to medical school and law school. Dolly’s ultimate promise to them was this, “I will not always give you what you want, but I will always make sure that you have what you need.”
That is God’s promise to us. He will always make sure that we do not want for what we need. He fills our cup to overflowing.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank you. Amen