My devotions on Thanksgiving morning focused on the greek word perisseuo, which translates to: beyond the normal, over the top, superabounding, to excel beyond measure, excessive, abundant, far more than we can imagine…
The word is found 41 times in the New Testament, plus there are seven derivatives all with a meaning of “beyond the normal.” There were verses to look up, like when Jesus says in John 10:10 that He has come to bring us life, that we may have life abundant. This isn’t a material abundance or a promise of no hardship. But it is a truth that God’s gifts are better: He brings hope, love, a firm foundation, forgiveness, comfort, peace, joy…these are the good gifts he gives to us in abundance.
I had this floating around in my mind on Thanksgiving Day, watching this reality all around me. My side of the family was invited to join the Groves side of the family at Rory’s brother’s place where they run Art House North. As we gathered to pray before the meal I felt this superabounding gladness that my kids had both sets of grandparents at their thanksgiving, plus cousins and aunts and uncles on both sides.
We feasted on a beyond-the-normal thanksgiving feast and came home with more food than we brought, which is saying something because we had the oven going for six hours on Wednesday. Elsie brought bread dough to show how she makes her star bread and had an audience of over-the-top cheerleaders, eager to see how she folds the dough.
And then we had a family talent show upstairs. Which was above and beyond. Hattie began with a cooking show, making cookie bars. Auntie Sara interviewed Hattie while she mixed the eggs and butter and flour, and the laughter was constant.
“Is it important to keep a clean kitchen while you’re working?” Sara would ask.
“No.”
For her grand finale, Hattie had the fun idea of bringing our play kitchen and putting the batter in the “oven” and then pulling out a pan she had already baked. The crowd thought this was a fantastic ending.
Then the talents really started pouring in.
Ruby showed Nutmeg’s incredible obedience with a series of dog tricks. Ivar sang Heart of the Wood, Elsie played Ashokan Farewell, Toby wowed everyone with his naming every flag of every country in the world in under ten minutes. Uncle Kyle read a great thanksgiving poem and my mom showed a wooden bowl and cutting board she made last month letting everyone know, “you’re never too old to learn to do something you’ve always wanted to try.”
Elsie showed the quilt she is working on that was started by her great grandma Verna and now, four generations later, she is finishing it. This was followed by Madi turning up the beats and leading us in a workout routine. And everyone participated!
Next was the VonGroves. They sang “Sing a song to the Lord” but I think we had better start working on “So Long, Farewell…”
And the last act was my dad with an Sven and Ole joke, followed by American history trivia, and then he closed us in a very heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving.
We drove home and Elsie said, “I wish we could do that every single day.” And we all agreed with our hearts so glad and grateful. The whole day was so special, the food, the fellowship, the laughter and the love. Full and overflowing. Perisseuo.
