Preparing Our Hearts
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4–5 (NIV)
Last evening I spoke with a dear friend who will be baking, from scratch, four different kinds of pie for her family’s Thanksgiving feast. Another friend confessed, “I hate turkey… to cook it, to eat it, and to clean up after it!” Someone else sighed, “My dinner guest list keeps growing, and my stress level is growing with it!”
As the preparations pile up, so do the expectations. And somewhere between pie crusts, turkey basters, and seating charts, our hearts can feel stretched thin. But Thanksgiving, at its core, isn’t a production to perfect, but a posture to embrace. Long before the table is set, God invites us to prepare something far more important, our hearts.
As we enter the swirl of Thanksgiving preparations, Psalm 100 gently reorients us. God doesn’t ask us to perfect the menu, decorate the table flawlessly, or accommodate every last-minute request. He simply invites us to enter, to come near, to draw close, with thanksgiving.
Thankfulness is not an item on our to-do list; it is the doorway into God’s presence. It doesn’t require everything to be calm or completed. It doesn’t wait for the meal to succeed or the day to go smoothly.
Gratitude grows when we pause long enough to recognize the goodness of God woven into the ordinary: a warm kitchen, people to love, memories to savor, breath in our lungs, and the enduring love of a faithful God.
So this Thanksgiving week, before your oven heats up or your stress level rises, pause. Let gratitude set the tone. Let worship shape your spirit. Let God prepare your heart.
Lord, in this busy season of preparation, slow us down. Quiet our hearts long enough to remember Your goodness. Lift our eyes from what feels overwhelming and help us to see Your faithful provision. Teach us to enter Your presence with thanksgiving—not because everything is perfect, but because You are good, Your love endures forever, and Your faithfulness never ends. Prepare our hearts even as we prepare our homes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.