I believe that Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday of the year. And, it’s not just about the food and the football, even though that, alone, is enough to put a smile on my face. Our house has always been a gathering place at Thanksgiving. Family and friends stop by during the day, and, together, we acknowledge that God has really been good to us all. We always have a houseful, coming and going from morning until midnight. All ages and all races and nationalities are represented in our home that day, with one common, overriding theme. It may not be stated in so many words, but there’s an atmosphere there that’s undeniable. We’re blessed.
I wanted to take some time and space here to express some random thoughts and ideas about my favorite time of the year.
Being Thankful
Your mom was right – always say “please” and “thank you.” Whether she realized it or not though, that seemingly insignificant act has far more impact than simply socially acceptable behavior. Developing a thankful heart, as well as an attitude of ungratefulness, is a habit. So, fill your home with thankfulness! It starts with Mom and Dad – saying “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.” Then declare it to be a family trait - “Our family expresses thanks!” Expressions of thankfulness are like the reins and the bridle in the horse’s mouth. They will turn the tide of attitude in your home.
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
How Many Ways To Worship?
One activity you can try with your family is to discover every way you can think of to worship God. Almost any age group can participate in this exercise that expands your family’s concept of worship. And it can be a project that stretches over an extended period of time, because, in reality, there are limitless responses to this. Feel free to allow your kids to use their imaginations.
The book of Psalms is the perfect place to teach your children what worship looks like and sounds like. Give your family the assignment to search through the entire book in order to prompt them to find all the different ways to worship. The list in almost inexhaustible, and offers such a variety of postures and practices that anyone can find something that’s a comfortable expression for them – be still, sing, shout, clap your hands, stand, sit, lie down, leap, and on and on. For school age children, the visual of writing all the responses on butcher paper or posterboard makes a real impact.
The Thanksgiving Tradition
The original Thanksgiving dinner began with each person having seven kernels of corn on his or her plate, to commemorate the time of famine when that was all each colonist had to eat each day for months…after eating those, they gave thanks for God’s bountiful blessing, and began the feast. Why not make that a tradition that reminds us of the abundance of God’s goodness? Or, go around the table with each person offering a sentence prayer thanking God for something they are specifically, especially thankful for.
If you have any meaningful Thanksgiving traditions in your home, we’d love for you to share them with us. You can tell us about them in the comments here, or, for you more private types, you can email us at MarthaandGreg@aol.com. Have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!
It’s a faded brown gingham apron, hand-stitched, trimmed with a ribbon and a row of equally faded pinkish ric-rac. They say she never was without her apron, and sure enough, the photo I have shows her wearing a similar one as she stands beside her husband in a field, looking stoically at the camera in the fashion of her day.
Her life was more difficult than I can fathom. Her husband was a circuit-riding preacher, and, with their eight children, they moved from place to place, wherever he was needed, picking cotton on other people’s land, eating and sleeping and living in temporary houses borrowed from other people for the length of their stay.
She was a tiny woman, under five feet tall, weighing about 85 pounds, but she drug the huge sack, weighing more than she did by the time it was full of cotton, behind her as she worked her way up and down the rows in the sun. Singing.
My husband’s great grandmother, Nettie Stiewig, worked hard laboring in the fields, helped educate her children, cooked meals, did laundry, and somehow found time to create some of the most exquisite embroidered and crocheted linens I have ever seen.
But the story of her life, the one thing that I really know about her, is that she sang.
Up and down the rows, back bent, fingers raw to the point of bleeding, she worked in the heat and the dust with her husband and children toiling nearby.
But instead of complaining about the work, or wishing she could express her homemaker’s artistic heart in a house of her own, Grandma sang joyful, unending hymns to the Savior she loved.
In doing so, she left a legacy that lives still in the hearts of four generations after her.
We’ve been talking a lot in our Sunday School class about our personal stories, and how they are part of God’s big, eternal story. We all want to do that One Great Thing for Jesus, and wonder if, should the opportunity arise, we will recognize it, and be up for the challenge. Sometimes I think that One Great Thing may not be that obvious, even to ourselves, as we somehow trudge from day to day, task to task, waiting for “Something” to happen..
But when I see that apron, where I have lovingly hung it in my kitchen, I hear the message of her life, still powerful in the heart of a great-granddaughter-in-law who never even met her.
My work, through all the little moments and tasks of life, becomes worship when my heart is full of praise to Him.
The apron touches me, and fills me with the hope that the memory of my life which will echo through the generations after me will be the same as hers: “She worshipped Jesus while she worked. She sang.”
Martha
It all started when Tom Brady went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1, and New England became just another team. Even with Peyton Manning leading them, the Colts are just so-so. This afternoon, ESPN reported that Tony Romo is out for at least four weeks and, so, it doesn't look too good for the Cowboys. Just six weeks deep, this has already been an interesting NFL season. Last Monday night, I watched the Vikings upset the Saints, and literally flinched when Cedric Griffin delivered the hit of at least that week on the Saints' Billy Miller.
Cedric went to high school at Holmes in San Antonio, where Martha has taught 22 years, and both Annie and Matt, our kids, attended there with Ced. As a matter of fact, Matt loved the school so much, he's back there teaching English. Cedric played football with Matt for the Huskies, back in the program's glory days. Don't look now, it's not as pretty as it used to be. Matt, as an underclassman then, had the responsibility of being on the scout team in practice, running next week's opponent's offense to help school the studs starting on defense. Looking back, he'll tell you he never got hit harder in any game than Ced hit him in practice. Even though, as a cornerback, Ced was smaller that most of the guys on defense, he still could bring it.
Seeing Ced's big hit last week brought to my remembrance an article that was written about him while he was at the University of Texas.
Cedric Griffin: Breaking barriersBy Thomas Stepp, University of Texas Media Relations 
Late in the summer of 2001, Cedric Griffin walked into the Longhorns team meeting room for the first time as a freshman. At first glance, he may have appeared quiet, stern and almost unapproachable to his fellow freshmen, but what his new teammates, including his future roommate Matt Nordgren, may not have realized is how much there was to discover.
"Cedric is one of the toughest guys you'll ever try to get to know, but I think that once you do, you'll be very happy with who you meet," Nordgren said. "It's a special thing, because he doesn't let many people in. He's very loyal. I think that's one of his best qualities. When you do get in, he'll do anything for you, anything in the world."
Trust and loyalty are two of the biggest qualities in getting to know Cedric Griffin. It was engrained at an early age as he ended up doing much for himself because of strained relations with his family, most of which is in southern Mississippi.
At age 10, he and his mother made their way to San Antonio, and although he admits he has found it difficult to ask for help from anyone, he would eventually receive one offer he felt he could not turn down.
"I don't talk to my real parents that much," Griffin said. "I live with a family in San Antonio who asked if I wanted to stay with them -- the Johnsons. I stayed with them in high school, so they are my closest family. I would call them a mother and a father figure. I 'm really close to my natural mom, we just haven't gotten along too well all the time."
In the Johnson household, comprised of father Tony, mother Sandi and son Anthony, Griffin found true trust and loyalty. He credits them fully for his successes, especially Anthony, one of his teammates at Holmes High School in San Antonio, who became his best friend.
"If you're his friend, you've got a friend for life," Tony Johnson said. "He'll go to bat for you, he'll go fight for you, and if he hears someone saying something about you, he'll step right up and straighten that out quickly.
"He has a hard time expressing himself, but when he does, it really comes out. It can be hard for him to do that. I guess as a child, he had to hold his emotions in so much. He'll let you know that he loves you, and he's just so thankful. He's just that type of person."
Beginning as teammates in Pop Warner football, Anthony and Cedric hit it off, and he was gradually accepted into the Johnson family, starting with an introduction to Tony and continuing with rides home from practice.
Eventually, during Griffin's sophomore year in high school, the Johnsons would extend an invitation for him to live with them in order to provide stability to the special person they recognized him to be.
"They're really supportive and they came to all of my games," Griffin described. "Even today, whenever I want to go down there, I can do it and just relax. They call me all the time and are just a really loving family."
With the benefit of support from the Johnsons, one night in their house became a distinct turning point. The night he took the SAT, it was Anthony who stayed up with Cedric to help him prepare.
"We sat there with training manuals, and I helped him where I could," Anthony recalled. "He knew some of the areas, and I knew some, so I helped as much as I could, and he just put a lot of effort into it. He trusted me, and we just got it done."
When the results were in, Griffin was on his way to play for The University of Texas.
"That was the happiest I've ever been in my life, because I knew I was going to college." Griffin recalled. "I knew I was going to have a chance to do what I wanted to do, and I knew I could repay him if everything worked out right. He helped me get here, and he's the reason why I'm here, honestly."
However, Tony and Anthony are quick to turn that credit around. Tony remembers a time when someone asked if Cedric made it to Texas because of the Johnson family.
"No, I'm here because of Cedric," he told them. "I'm sitting in this stadium seat because Cedric got me the tickets."
"I was there because of Cedric, not the other way around," he then explained. "He's there on his own initiative. I wish people could understand fully how hard it was for him to get where he is. If someone else takes credit, that's just silly. He's there because of him."
Anthony and Cedric consider each other brothers, and with the Johnsons' support, Griffin was able turn his strong ability to focus to his passion -- the game of football. Tony says that even from age 11, Cedric had his goals in place.
"When he is focused on it, you can forget it," Tony said. "I don't care what it is. I've never seen him give up. I've told him there are challenges out there that sometimes you won't meet, but that doesn't mean you have to quit trying. You don't just shoot for the moon, you can shoot for another galaxy, and he does. Sometimes it's almost an obsession compared to people who don't have goals. It does amaze me."
"Since he was a little kid, Cedric's been committed to football," Anthony followed. "Whatever he puts his mind to, that's what he does. From Pop Warner to middle school to high school, he's excelled at it, and it's what he's always wanted to do. Now he wants to go to the NFL, and that's his next step."
The Johnson family could not be prouder of Griffin, and no one would know him better than Anthony, who has seen him from all sides as they grew up together.
"It's like day and night away from football," Anthony laughed. "He can be so goofy. A lot of people don't see that side, because he's all rough and tough on the football field, but in the house, he's just a silly person."
So by the help of one family, Griffin found a second. He arrived at Texas and was embraced by teammates Matt Nordgren, Brian Carter, Michael Huff and the coaching staff, most notably defensive backs coach Duane Akina.
Firmly placed on the right track, Griffin knows that one day he will return to his original home of Natchez, Miss. Despite all he has been through, he still views it as just that -- home.
"All of my family is there," explained Griffin. "I'm the only one out here right now, but it strengthens me. I want to go back to Mississippi, help my family out and go out there and live. That's where I'm from, and that's where I would like to be."
A youth and community studies major, Griffin's greatest hope is to be able to help those who are in need, especially those who have helped him.
"I want to do something with children or at a community house. I want to have a chance to give back. I hope I'm fortunate enough to give back to people who have done for me. They're the ones who have set up centers and things like that. I just want to go out into the community, see what the problems are and try to help people."
A recent problem everyone is familiar with in that region is the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Griffin received word early that his family was safe, but that did not deter him from wanting to help those he does not know.
"The little money I do have, I donate to the Red Cross," Griffin admitted. "It's hard times right now and everybody needs help, so I definitely want to do it."
Underneath the exterior is where you find the true Cedric Griffin. When asked to describe himself, he had this to say:
"I really feel like I'm a sensitive person, and a caring and loving person, but a lot of people don't believe that just because of the way they see me. Football brings your other personality out because you want to be mean, you want to try to be hard. That's what a lot of people perceive me as, but I'm just a really cool, caring guy to tell you the truth. That's what I think I am."
And he's not the only one.
We got to see a lot of Cedric and Anthony (AJ) back in their high school days. They both faithfully attended the weekly Fellowship of Christian Athletes' meetings that Matt led and we were adult sponsors. They showed up at our house for parties and get-togethers. Sean Jensen of the Pioneer Press wrote an article about Ced since he became a Minnesota Viking. In the article, Sandi Johnson said that the two boys were "like twins." And, that was exactly how they acted, except for the fact that AJ had sandy hair and freckles and was about four inches taller. But the Johnsons made certain that Ced was a part of their family. They provided all the clothes and school supplies that he needed, and the encouragement and discipline that kept him going. Now in his third year in the NFL, he can look back at his time as a part of the Johnson family for providing that impetus to persevere and succeed.
In Sean Jensen's article, Ced says of his life's goal, "It's just all about being a man. Just manning up and taking ownership of what you made. I know I have to be responsible for my actions." That's a valuable lesson to learn. And it manifests itself in many more ways than one big hit.
