Thanksgiving – Love and Fistfights

“My husband and my brother in law were in the middle of the driveway yelling at each other!”

My friend is telling me about her Thanksgiving dinner…

“My brother-in-law starts jumping around with his hands up like a prize fighter.”

“Then he socks my husband on the jaw, gets in his car and drives away as fast as he can…”

“There’s not a lot of love lost between those two.”

“Don’t you usually go to your mother-in-law’s house for holidays?” I ask.

“We stayed home this year because she and my husband always argue.”

“It was our first Thanksgiving at home, and we gave the neighbors a real show!”

I never had anything that exciting happen on Thanksgiving…

But I remember when I was growing up…

• The neighbor who showed up just before dinner and left as soon as it was over…

• The great aunt who took home most of the leftovers…

• The uncle who droned on and on after dinner until everybody fell asleep…

And I remember how we gossiped about all of them after they left…

Speaking unkind words wrapped in laughter and forgetting that the Bible tells us to …

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Psalm 34:13

Forgetting that God hears every word we speak…

And holds us as accountable for our words as well as our actions…

…on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”   Matthew 12:36-37

Forgetting the command of Jesus…

 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.   John 13:34

And most of all, forgetting the example of God…

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   John 3:16

Note: An original version of this post appeared In November 2015