Like most Americans, Thanksgiving day found me on my couch, watching football and sipping margaritas. Of course, everyone doesn’t watch football, but we try not to hold that against them. I was half-watching the game, half-musing about all the things that I was thankful for and mostly enjoying the margaritas. My wife was in the final stages of preparing the kids and herself. As I was smiling to myself thinking how much of a blessing it is to have such a beautiful wife, (thank you Lord), when the phone rang…
Happy Thanksgiving!! (I like to answer the phone hyped!)
(smiling) Happy Thanksgiving to you too!! David?
Yes?
Hey this is your cousin..
Wassup cuz?? (smiling)
Nothing. Your mama told me to call you and let ya’ll know that everybody is here. They’re waiting on ya’ll so that we can bless the food and eat.
Ops!! My bad!! I’m just sitting here watching the game and sucking down margaritas..we’ll be right over!!
After I hung up the phone, I got up to alert my wife to the situation. She was already ready, and had both the kids ready also. As we got in our cars to head over to my parents house, I couldn’t help but be thankful for yet another blessing. Everybody doesn’t live within 3 miles of their parents, thank you Lord.
If you drive around the Southside on a holiday like Thanksgiving, you’re going to see several houses with a lot of cars parked outside in the driveway and along the street. Family and friends getting together at grandma’s house or at an auntie’s house, enjoying the holiday season together in love. One of the common themes of Thanksgiving is enjoying a feast together. Those who have read ‘Spicy’ already know how the Southside enjoys GOOD food!! My mother always posts a menu for all to see what they like: fried turkey, smoked turkey, baked ham, mustard greens, collard greens, green beans, broccoli and rice casserole, candied yams, chicken and dumplings, giblet gravy, cornbread dressing, macaroni and cheese, homemade rolls, hotwater cornbread, tea, punch, soda,. Then there’s the dessert tables full of sweet potato pies, pecan pies, pecan cream cheese pies, pound cake, sock-it-to-me cake, german chocolate cake, Texas chewies, reading the menu alone will make you gain 5 lbs!
For those unfamiliar with a typical Thanksgiving meal on the Southside, ours normally goes like this. All the TV’s and radios are turned down, everyone gathers around in the dining area and holds hands in a circle. All the kids and adults are joined together, and anyone that has something they want to say have a free forum to express themselves. It could be a joke, it could just be a remark to let everyone know how much they appreciate the family, etc. My family happens to be stocked with soldiers of the Lord. Men and women who have committed their lives to serving the Almighty God. Preachers, Pastors, Sunday School Teachers, Deacons, choir members, piano players, drummers, pretty much every facet of the church is represented. Before the prayer, we had a reading of the scripture.
Psalms 34:1-3 I will bless he Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.
One of my uncles followed with the prayer, thanking God for yet another day, praying for our world leaders, praying for all the soldiers fighting for our country, thanking the Lord for allowing the family journey mercies on the highways so that we could all get together again and enjoy each other in love. All throughout the prayer everyone has bowed heads and remain holding hands. There’s always a splattering of ‘Amens’ and ‘Thankya Jesus’ throughout the prayer. Fortunately, this wasn’t one of those ‘neck breaking’ prayers that lasts so long all of the food gets cold. That’s the quickest way for a preacher to get run out of town on the Southside!
After the blessings were said and everybody started lining up to fix their plates, my uncle grabbed me to the side..
Hey nephew.
Wassup unc?
I heard you were at your house sipping on margaritas before you came over here.
Uhh..as a matter of fact, I was.
He frowned up hand gave me a stern look of disapproval..
Where’s mine???!!!
Holiday season is upon us and we all have many things to be thankful for. Despite all the wars, occupations, crime, poverty, disease and corruption that are so prevalent throughout the world, we ALL should take time to give thanks for all the good things that we have in our lives. Simple things like, being able to wake up and get out of bed every morning, family, friends and a myriad of other blessings which we so often ignore or overlook. Its very easy to focus on the negative things in our lives and exclaim, ‘Woe is me’. Instead of complaining, we all should focus on expressing our gratitude for all the blessings that God has bestowed upon each and every one of us. As my uncle so eloquently described in his prayer, instead of Thanksgiving we should call it Thanksliving, cuz everybody ain’t able.
I’m very thankful for all of my family and friends. I’m thankful for all the blessings that God continually gives me everyday. I’m thankful for the Servinemup audience and those who anxiously wait to get ‘served’ 3 times a week. And most of all, I’m thankful to have such a wonderful collection of people who love the Lord in my life. I am strengthened by their faith and I am immensely appreciative when I learn that others are strengthened by mine. Walking towards the Light can be a very intimidating and sometimes disheartening experience in this world. We all need a little boost of encouragement from time to time and I would hope above all else, that is what Servinemup does for people. Its also refreshing to know that servants of the Lord like tequila too. Happy Thanksliving!!!
