FAITHFUL LIVING

“Look guys, she’s pulled out the blue binder! Mom’s planning again!” my daughter Katie announced last weekend. It was Saturday morning and while drinking coffee with my family at the kitchen table, I began thinking ahead to the Thanksgiving meal we’d soon be preparing. I’m fully aware of the fact that there are some things I routinely do that can easily be joked about. Like planning for Thanksgiving: I can’t seem to think clearly unless I pull out my binder and add some notebook paper. It is here that I list requested foods. Ingredients I need to purchase. New and old recipes. I glean enticing ideas from magazines and slide them into plastic covers. I gather coupons.

My family members routinely kid me about my collection, but I know they would be disappointed if I didn’t dig out that binder. Just for thrills I guess I could simply wing it and make a mad, last-minute dash to the store. But then I’d feel robbed. I simply can’t imagine my daughter Megan making her way across Snoqualmie Pass in her little Honda Civic, with her yellow lab sprawled across the backseat, to be welcomed by the sound of me opening a can of chicken gravy.

I’m very purposeful about my blue binder. I like filling it. It’s fun for me. I like the kids to see that a special occasion deserves forethought and planning. It’s the joy of anticipation that contributes to a happy holiday. Looking ahead also can relieve some of the stress and costs. Both issues are exceedingly important to a whole lot of us this holiday season.

It’s been a challenging year and when I look back on the myriad experiences we’ve faced, I’m astounded. Who would have thought the worldwide economy would take such a dramatic downturn? That gas prices would fluctuate like they have. That food and heating costs would soar. A number of us were laid off our jobs and it required that we rework our resumes and press through interviews. We’ve seen the value of our homes, retirement and children’s’ college accounts diminish. Far too many families across our nation face foreclosure on their homes.

We’ve celebrated and mourned. Worried and rejoiced. Made major and minor adjustments in the way we spend our time and money. And because of the experiences we’ve had this year, should we not also be a bit wiser than we were last Thanksgiving? Can we say that we’ve learned some valuable lessons, have clarified some personal goals in response to all these experiences, and choose to be ever more thankful in 2008 than we were in 2007?

This may be the Thanksgiving to override a collectively tough year and choose instead to cultivate a thankful heart. Is it possible, to borrow a well-known phrase from chef Emeril Lagasse, to “Take it up a notch!” and add a little hallelujah to our planning?

I love hearing the word hallelujah but enjoy saying it even more. It’s one of those words I regularly whisper to myself in most settings but thrill to sing during worship. It’s an old expression found only in the book of Psalms and means, “Praise the Lord!” When you let it roll off your tongue you are giving expression to the joy, praise and thanksgiving you are experiencing deep inside.

If you were to look through your Bible you’d find it in 13 psalms either as the opening word or the closing word, or both. Its original purpose during temple times, as best as historians can gather, was to signal to a congregational that a response to their worship experience was in order. Rather like amen, the use of hallelujah entered Jewish prayer books and also became part of the Christian tradition, eventually finding its way into languages worldwide.

Lyricist Jeff Buckley writes in his song, “Hallelujah” (sung soulfully by k.d. lang) that hallelujahs can be uttered by those who’ve “seen the light” as well as those who are cold and broken. You do not have to feel on top of the world or be living at your best. It’s a choice to face life and acknowledge there is value and reason for our experiences.

Let’s take the collective experiences of 2008 and raise Thanksgiving Day to a new level by making it a Hallelujah Day. Difficult? Perhaps. But I know a whole lot of us want to be more thankful this year than last. We long to look ahead to the upcoming holiday season with a genuine “hallelujah!” flowing through our hearts.

With God, we can.

Joan Bay Klope is a freelance writer and speaker who makes her home on Whidbey Island. E-mail comments to faithfulliving@hotmail.com.