Thankful Hearts

The Hoppers were never big on holidays because we used them as days to catch up with work around the house.  At other times, we would be cutting, splitting, loading, and unloading firewood.  Daddy always reminded my brother and me that cutting firewood warmed you twice.  When we asked how, daddy would say it warmed you when we cut it and it will warm us when you burn it.  Looking back, I have fond memories of spending a cold day in the woods working with daddy and my brothers.  I really miss it!

I usually grill out steaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I remind folks I can get turkey and ham when I visit relatives.  There are not many leftovers when we grill.

When I was growing up we did not cook out, but we did slaughter hogs and roasted some tenderloin on the fire before the pig had time to get cold.  There is nothing any better than homemade sausage and momma’s biscuits.  Part of the fun of slaughtering hogs was grinding the sausage and having momma tweak the seasoning of the sausage trying to get it just right.  We were her guinea pigs having to sample each batch until she got it just right.  If you have never eaten a sausage biscuit outside in the cold with your hands smelling like pigs, your nose running, and your tongue burning from steaming coffee, you ain’t ever lived.

The Hoppers loved eating during the holidays.  Thanksgiving and Christmas were the two holidays that momma cooked special: fried pies, homemade cookies, and cakes.  Every day, when we could afford it, momma cooked a seven-course meal for supper.  Two things always on the table were green purple hull peas and fried Irish potatoes.  I once told momma that if I ever got grown I would never eat peas and taters again.  I hate I told her that and I sure do miss momma’s peas and taters.

On Thanksgiving and Christmas momma “showed out.”  There was something for the most finicky eater.  Momma could fix the best dressing.  Every year she would almost ruin it by cooking it.  We liked it raw and loose.  Sometimes I would sneak some out of the pan and eat it before momma browned it.  I always accused her of burning it.

Momma always insisted that she had to cook it.  Everything she put in it was already cooked.  The broth, the cornbread, the crackers, the bread, and the eggs were cooked so it was not raw, and we did not like it like a cake, but momma had to put it into the oven to brown it.  If mamma was happy, then everybody was happy.

Everyone ate at the table or tables.  It was family time.  Daddy always, even the years as a lost man, called on someone to say grace.  Every time we put our feet under the table, we gave thanks to God for providing us with something to eat regardless, how far down on the hog we got or how bare the cupboard was.  I remember the days when there was no hog, no milk, nothing but bare shelves, so we were thankful when daddy and momma were able to provide a bountiful meal.

Thanksgiving is truly a time for being thankful, yet we live in a very unthankful world.  We live in a time of entitlement.  God blessed and we worked hard to have plenty.  God has blessed us much as a nation, but many do not realize this.  Thankful hearts recognize the blessings of God at all times.  Momma and daddy taught us to be thankful in times of want and in times of plenty.

As believers, we have an obligation to teach unthankful people a lesson.  The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy gives thanks even though the apostle’s future was bleak.  Paul faced death by execution. “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;  Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”

Here are some things which he gave thanks.  Paul was thankful to be a believer with a Christian family to have true joy, true devotion, and true prayer.  He was thankful for friends bonded by tears, by happiness, and by yearning.  He was thankful for a faith that came from teaching the Scriptures.  He had a faith that came by being one believer witnessing to many unbelievers.  Paul had a faith rooted in the promise from those of Timothy’s family that would be from generation to generation.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ, His Son.