Thanksgiving with Family?

Mark 3: 31-35     Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.  Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.  A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
   “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
   Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (NIV).
   Jesus gave a radical description of His family, defining His family as those who do God’s will.  No birthright and no family tree?  Now Mary gave birth to Jesus, and Joseph and Mary were parents who raised Him.  Yet Jesus was not the flesh and blood of Joseph and Mary, rather He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And in this passage, Jesus revealed the reality of a spiritual family, which is available for anyone who believes in Him.  John 1:12 states people who believe in Jesus are adopted as children of God.  It is a spiritual adoption.  Those who are children of God have the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to do the will of God.  What a privilege to not only be saved from our sins by Jesus and to be united with God, yet to also gain such an intimate relationship with God as to become His children.
   Often Christians start a prayer addressing the Father: Heavenly Father, Holy Father, Father God, Our Father, and such.  This title of Father is a reality for the person who is a follower of Jesus.  Incredible.
   My sophomore year in college at Virginia Tech, my mom left my dad the day before Thanksgiving.  That Thanksgiving was one of the most painful days of my life.  My full family never had Thanksgiving together again.  Future Thanksgivings were infused with some pain for me for at least a decade following that horrible Thanksgiving.
   Since that time, Thanksgiving Day has been spent with a bunch of different folks.  People I have shared that traditional meal with over the years include my grandma until she passed away, several different families from several different churches, three elderly ladies from my church, and twice with some CCU students unable to travel home for the holiday.  When I first went into ministry work, I spent three out of four Thanksgivings alone with God.  I needed healing and His comfort during that period.  This year I spent the holiday with folks from a special Christian singles group.
   Spending Thanksgiving with various people in various places, I was enriched, and I always appreciated people inviting me to join their family celebration.  Yet honestly, none of those Thanksgivings were my true desire.  My sincere desire was to be with a wife.  Honestly, I still would do anything to spend a quiet day in our own home with a wife giving thanks for Christ’s love.
   However, I reflected during this Thanksgiving of how throughout my hodgepodge of Thanksgiving events, I have been blessed to be with family-in-Christ on Thanksgiving, even if it did not seem like I was with family.  And all of those times were an opportunity for me to express Christ’s love!
   If you are not in a relationship with the Heavenly Father, you can call God your Father even today.  Referring back to John 1:12, to receive forgiveness and to be adopted into the family of God, you simply need to believe in Jesus, the One who died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death.  Then He was resurrected.  Now He offers you the invitation to join His forever family for all eternity, and you will be enabled to do the will of God.
   Speaking from experience, you still may have some challenging Thanksgivings, (even if with physical family or Christ’s family), or some crummy Thanksgivings, or even some lonely Thanksgivings.  However, you will never again be alone on Thanksgiving, even if you feel lonely.  God promises to spiritually be with His children always.
Hunter