Stitched on pillows, printed on banners, and stamped on plaques on store shelves across the country is the word “gather.” November is the month for coming home. We gather together.
It’s no surprise that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is repeatedly the busiest air travel day of the year.
But did you know this warm, inviting word has deep Biblical eternal roots? A common meaning of this word is collecting; as in gathering all necessary items for making your famous pumpkin pie, gathering stored toys for your grandchildren’s arrival, gathering armloads of pine cones and colorful leaves for decorating your table.
Yet the full richness of this word is found in the many ways God uses it when He speaks of His children whom He loves.
A decade ago when we were facing a crisis with one of our children, God graciously reminded me of the words of Jesus when He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, …how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling” (Matthew 23:37). My deep parental love for my child longed to gather my wandering one close for protection and safety. Emotional pain unlike any other was my constant companion in that too-long season of praying for repentance and restoration.
In His kindness, God taught me much during those years about His unending love for me. I too wander from Him and cause Him grief. Our heavenly father longs for you and me to draw near to Him in the same way earthly parents long for their children to come home to Jesus and come home for holidays.
God’s gathering love is about much more than a Thanksgiving feast.
- “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am among them,” said Jesus (Matthew 18:20).
- “Don’t neglect to meet together,” the author of Hebrews said (10:25), because being with other believers brings encouragement.
But my favorite verses about gathering are those with a future reference. One day we who believe in Jesus for salvation will be gathered to our heavenly home to be forever with God, our Father, and Jesus, our Brother, our true forever family.
- “And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
- Like an earthly father, God will one day “whistle for them (the people of Israel) to gather them together, for [he has] redeemed them” (Zechariah 10:8). Don’t you LOVE that analogy? Like a parent who whistles to get his kids attention, so God will do the same to call His kids home to Him!
As you spend many loving hours this month preparing for your Thanksgiving gathering, remember that Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive (or gather) you to Myself…” (John 14:3).
When we gather in His name we are enacting, practicing for a future event more wonderful than the best Thanksgiving feast imaginable.
Remembering His “one day” gathering of you and yours, His beloved children, will make this year’s family time more sacred and meaningful.
Happy Gathering!
Thank you for this post and for the lovely templates for Thanksgiving. Rather than using the template for candles, I printed them onto cardstock, cut them out and punched a hole in the top for a bookmark. I tied a fall-themed ribbon to the top, put them in a beautiful orange glass container, and will hand them out to the nurses and workers at my father’s nursing home. I’m thankful for their tender care for him. I hope to wheel him around this week at the facility so he can hand them out! Your ideas took wings!
Brynda,
What a great idea! And thanks so much for sharing it with us. I know God will use your thoughtful creations with those who receive them!
Thank you, Barbara, I love how you have brought together the idea of Christ return and our yearly “returns” home at this season. I had never thought of it in that way. Thank you, also, for the lovely templates and DIY Thanksgiving ideas. You are a blessing to so many homes and families!