Many families are starting to gather again for the first time in 2 years this Thanksgiving. What a wonderful, beautiful event to gather your family and friends again for a holiday!

At the same time, there is excitement and angst warring with each other.  

The holiday can be a time of building warm, loving connections, but sometimes the experience doesn’t match the excitement of the celebration.  

We bring out the china and dust it off, decorate our tables and homes, prepare foods we only cook once a year (why is that?), and get excited for the people to gather. 

We pray for a simple day when everyone gets along, nobody makes rude comments, we cook and deliver the food flawlessly, and everyone oohs and aahhhs over the goodness of the day.

But what does reality look like?

In reality, underneath it all is stress.

We feel pressure to be wonderful hosts, entertain our loved ones, and stay calm in the chaos. The stress we feel is typically a direct result of our own expectations. While we are trying to please and serve others, we overextend ourselves and miss all the loving awesomeness of the holiday. 

But have you ever noticed while we’re stressing out at the adult table, there is zero stress at the kids’ table where they’ve got paper plates and plastic silverware for eating that oh so gooey mac and cheese?

No one at the kids table is stressed out, worrying if the food is okay, the table is perfectly set, or if great aunt Linda is going to make some snarky comment that punches right in the gut.  

At the kids’ table they are looking to just fill their bellies, talk to their cousins, and head outside to play. They’re not putting any pressure on themselves or each other.  They bring innocence to the celebration. They look past any mistakes or harsh words from the morning and move on to having a blast in the afternoon.

Who else would sit at the kids’ table?

Where would Jesus sit if He were at your holiday celebration? Most likely the kids’ table. Just look how often He used kids as examples to adults for the problems they brought to Him. He often pointed at kids to the lead the way when speaking of faith. 

Isn’t it time we moved past superficial conversations and moved some of our anger, arguments, and built up resentments right on over to the kids’ table? We can apologize if warranted or stop waiting for one that needs to be said to us.

Or simply throw out the rule book and everyone eats on paper plates with plastic silverware today. (Hey, think how lovely and freeing that would be!)

It’s all up to you to get to the kids’ table, and there’s a chair there with your name on it. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Comment down below and tell me: how can you act like a child today? (and no, I don’t mean that tantrum you’re waiting to throw, ha ha!)

And if you need a warm, supportive community of like-minded women, come on over and join us at Sacred Living: Helping Jesus Loving Women Design a Life They Love.