Holy Sweet Potatoes, Batman!

A question I enjoy asking people every year around this time is what their favorite Thanksgiving dish is. It's fun to watch people when they talk about it, whether their favorite is stuffing or green bean casserole or cranberry sauce or the turkey. People rarely seem content with quick descriptions of those dishes. They usually tell me who makes it and how they've been making it for years and sometimes what's in it, little realizing how their eyes light up and their voices fill with relish as they talk.

For me, that dish is my Aunt Kathy's sweet potato casserole. Oh. Man. As a kid, I refused to eat it because I didn't think I liked sweet potatoes. But one year at the beginning of high school, someone got me to try a bite. My eyes were opened, and I haven't looked back since. The way Aunt Kathy makes it, this dish gets eaten up faster than pretty much any other food item on the table. And she doesn't mess with that marshmallow topping nonsense. The topping is pecans and brown sugar goodness all the way.

I'm seriously salivating right now, just thinking about it.

In a conversation with a friend the other day, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to Aunt Kathy's sweet potatoes. Her response was, "Lusting after that food already, huh?"

When she first said it, it seemed funny, so I just smiled and said, "Oh yeah! For weeks now." However, the more I thought about it, the more it just didn't sit right with me. Is excitement and anticipation of delicious food equal to unholy craving? Is the longing for Thanksgiving food - or any food - wrong? Is it sinful in any way? I don't want to dismiss the idea just because it might challenge the way I think about food. So let's think about it for a minute.

I know that gluttony is a sin, and the simple dictionary definition of that is eating excessively. But I don't know that it's the eating itself that offends God. It's the idolatry that lies in eating too much. The act of putting one's hope in food rather than in God, believing that food will satisfy the longings and soothe the aching of one's heart, the overindulgence in one of God's gifts that He pours on us to steward and enjoy. When I feel depressed or discouraged or bored, and I turn to food instead of God, seeking to fill my soul by filling my belly, that reveals idolatry. This kind of eating is not okay. It's not honoring to God.

But does that mean that we can't eat our fill of delicious food and enjoy it wholeheartedly? When Jesus fed the five thousand, the Gospel of Mark says that "They all ate and were satisfied" (6:42). A speaker at my church said that means that the people ate and were stuffed. They didn't just eat until they weren't hungry. They ate until they were completely full. Jesus gave them more food than they needed just to live. He gave them a feast.

The story of that miracle glorifies God, and we can glorify God by feasting and thanking Him for the bounty He gives us.

Last night I had a pre-Thanksgiving feast with some friends, and for dessert, we shared an amazingly rich chocolate pie. After my first bite, I smiled at my friend Beka and said, "Oh! This is praise Jesus food!" I say that often when I eat something delicious because I want praise to be my response when I enjoy food. God created taste and flavor. He gave us tastebuds, and He created food not only to sustain us but to delight us. It's true, we can deal with food sinfully, just as we can with anything else.

But our enjoyment of food can also be holy. When we eat food and delight in it and thank God for it, that is good. God delights in our delight in His gifts when it is ultimately delight in Him. So when I eat Aunt Kathy's sweet potato casserole tomorrow, I am going to eat it with joy and praise God for it. And I'm going to eat Thanksgiving dinner till I'm stuffed, and I won't feel one bit guilty. I will enjoy great food, because I have a great God who gives delicious gifts.

Thanks Before Giving

Reader, it has begun. It began weeks ago.

On a trip to Walmart last week, no sooner had I walked in the door than I heard Bing Crosby crooning Christmas tunes on the overhead speaker. Christmas decorations lined the shelves as I walked in, and the home and garden section looked like a pitiful forest of plastic pine trees guarded by a giant blow-up Santa. 

Really, Walmart? Really? I thought. November seriously just started. Must you forget about Thanksgiving? It gets me every year. Beside selling a few turkey stuffed animals wearing pilgrim hats and stocking up on giant turkeys in their meat section, Walmart completely skips over our nation's gratitude holiday.  But Walmart isn't the only culprit. If you watch your TV for any length of time, you are bound to see a Christmas-themed commercial from any number of stores. I actually saw some of those commercials before Halloween! And, I don't want to rant and rave, but it drives me crazy.

Don't get me wrong, reader. I love Christmas. I mean, I love Christmas. If you know me really well, you know that around Christmas time, I become like a seven-year-old who's eaten 10-too-many candy canes. I get giddy-excited about Christmas decorations and music and lights and food and sweaters and parties and giving presents and receiving presents and everything about it. I seriously love Christmas. I can't wait to listen to Bing Crosby's Christmas album and wear my green t-shirt with my red cardigan and start wearing a Santa hat around the house (and possibly out in public). In fact, I'm the one in my family who will get out the Christmas decorations and make sure they get put up the weekend after Thanksgiving. 

However, it has to be after Thanksgiving. I'm adamant about that. 

Some people don't care. I know a few people who put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, and I'm well aware that a lot of people start listening to Christmas music long before the season officially begins. Not me. Some people might think that I'm too strict about it, that it's really not a big deal. And maybe for them it isn't a big deal. Maybe I'm too strict about something that doesn't matter that much. To me, it matters, for three reasons.

First, it's tradition. Thanksgiving is a national holiday and therefore is worth remembering. Our culture often says that traditions don't hold any value, but that's not true. Traditions really are worthwhile, and spending November to anticipate and celebrate Thanksgiving is important. December (and the last few days of November) belong to Santa. The rest of November belongs to the Thanksgiving turkey. Let's keep it that way.

Second, Walmart does not celebrate Christmas because of Jesus. Our culture doesn't look forward to December 25 as a celebration of the coming of the Savior of mankind. In the eyes of the world, Christmas season is the shopping season. Thanksgiving definitely isn't a shopping season, so of course Thanksgiving gets skipped over. As a Christian, I can celebrate the coming of Christ all year long. In fact I should. But I don't believe I can truly honor God by skipping over the holiday dedicated to being grateful for what He's given me. I don't want to be a Grinch or a Scrooge, but I don't want to be like the culture either.

Thirdly and most importantly in my mind, I'm convinced that there's something important, vital even, about taking a month to be thankful for what we have before we take a month to spend so much of our time and thoughts on the giving and getting of presents. Gratitude comes before presents. Thanks must come before giving. Because we have been given so much.

Giving to others is a wonderful thing (and I honestly have been excited about Christmas ever since September), but taking time to give thanks for what God has given me is what allows me to give to others in any kind of genuine way. Giving from the place of gratitude is far more soul-feeding, life-giving, and joy-producing than giving simply because it's that time of year.