Thursday, November 23, 2006
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart.
WHAT A TURKEY!
As you know, there are both positive as well as negative ways in which to use the above expression. When one person uses it to depict another, it is not meant to be complimentary. We suppose that is because there are both good and bad things to say about turkeys.
The bad news about turkeys is that they are stupid. When scared, they have been known to trample one another to death. They are subject to many diseases. Some say they will look upward with beaks open during a rainstorm -- and drown themselves. Hunters of the wild variety, equipped with the latest camo and weapons, must not feel much like "sportsmen" when they observe Dakota farmers luring whole flocks of this supposedly clever fowl onto their barn floors with just a trail of shelled corn.
While criticizing the bird, one could also make some stunning comparisons between it and man as he is by nature, not just subject to but inclined toward every evil which Satan, sin and flesh have to offer. People facing disaster in crowded stadiums have fatally trampled one another. When evil rains down on them, people have been known to drink themselves to death on purpose. It doesn't seem to take much to trap supposedly clever people onto the devil's slaughtering floor.
The good news about turkeys is that they sure taste good! And no matter how much we may wring our hands over the godless masses misusing the day to stuff and stupefy themselves, the truth is that most of us, after the Thanksgiving service, will also gather with relatives and friends around a nicely browned bird and "all the trimmings." It is no sin to enjoy Thanks-giving -- thanking the Giver of every good and perfect gift for letting us live at a time and in a place with the highest standard of living in history.
Surfeiting is out, but thankful celebration is in, even as Solomon wrote in the context of moderation: "Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart" (Ecclesiastes 9:7).
This goes to show that everything is all right about a special day to rejoice in our Lord's lavish and bountiful goodness in supplying far more than we could ever deserve or even desire. May these thoughts be included behind all our words and deeds this Thanksgiving when we are privileged to exclaim in every positive way, "What a turkey!"
