When my daughter was in 7th grade she took a wood shop class. She hated it. The teacher was a man and he was gruff and she was a girlie girl. Constantly, she would say just how terrible she hated to go to wood shop. Tuesday’s and Thursday’s were now, "the worst school days in the week” according to her attitude.
Aa a mama, I began to tell her, "Baby, your attitude is off. All new and unfamiliar things are hard; he is teaching you something you didn’t know before, just be patient, just be kind and pray your way through the class.”
She quit complaining over the next few days and months. Thanksgiving was rolling around soon. She began to get really excited about a present she was making me and she wouldn’t share any details. Then 2 days before Thanksgiving she came home from school, grinning from ear to ear. She was carrying this dirty wrapped brown paper gift in her tiny hands. “Mama!”, she shouted, “I made you something in wood shop!” To my surprise, she wasn’t upset or sad - (the words "wood shop" became a bad word we didn’t say anymore in our house).
She handed me this little wrapped thing with such joy. I opened it and to my surprise it was a wooden turkey. On it read "Happy Thanks G". I told her how beautiful it was but couldn’t help but ask her why she didn’t put the full word “Thanksgiving” on the turkey. She started to laugh and exclaimed,” it wouldn’t fit, so I just made it work!” Aren’t our lives a lot like that? We push and fight against any growth or change, but when we embrace what God is doing, He makes room for us to make it ours and create. I am grateful today for The Lords grace over us in growth. We named the wooden turkey “G” and he sits on our table every Thanksgiving, first of all as a prized possession of our family and secondly as a reminder that thanksgiving in growth and change is possible! God gives grace abundantly. So sweet sister, might you need a "Thanks G" turkey to remind you of Gods Grace in growth, today?