By REV. JAMES SCARBOROUGH

Donalsonville Assembly of God

As I write, my wife, who is on Thanksgiving break from school, is still dealing with the results of a special gathering that we enjoyed together as a family yesterday. She takes her Thanksgiving meal very seriously and always does a fantastic job preparing it. I promise you that Thanksgiving 2011 was no exception!

Much effort went into preparing the feast that was presented to us: planning, time and know-how-and lots and lots of love. And obviously, even after the meal was fairly quickly consumed with great delight by us all, the work certainly did not end at that moment. There was plenty of cleanup to be accomplished, and with three little girls sitting around the table with us, the mess was not confined to the table.

Addyson, the youngest of our little flock, has not yet caught on to the proper handling of eating utensils, so I found quite a few green peas under her chair. There is no big deal about getting down on the floor to pick up peas and other food remnants under normal circumstances, but after consuming a meal such as I just had it was somewhat of a challenge. Nevertheless, with a little less than comfortable effort, I made it down there, got my grandbaby’s mess up and made it back on my feet.

Even after all that Gale went through so her family could enjoy Thanksgiving together, if she would be asked if all the effort was worth it, I am confident she would respond that it absolutely was. In fact, I did ask her that question and she responded just as I expected.

What makes it worth it to go to great efforts to accomplish certain things? The things that we value as of great importance are worth investing our time, effort and resources into. Because of her love and concern for her family, Gale was willing to do what she did yesterday to make it a memorable time for us all. Thanksgiving is only one example; day after day, she, like many others, gives sacrificially of self for the betterment of those that are important to her.

As hard as it is to believe, we are just days away from another celebration as we focus our attention on God’s investment in undeserving humankind. With Christmas shopping and celebrating getting into high gear, let us all be careful not to allow the real meaning of the season to be robbed from us. In Christ’s coming to earth, a tremendous eternal investment was made for our spiritual deliverance. Although it was a high and holy price given by God, it was worth it to Him. Why? Because of His unconditional love for us and His desire for us to have the opportunity to receive Him into our hearts by faith as Lord.

As we enter into this Christmas season, let us all purpose to do so with thankful hearts for what God provided for us in Christ. As we are reminded in Galatians 1:4-5, Jesus Christ “gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (New International Version).