God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Thinking of birthdays raises an important question. Some of our most significant events – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals – honor particular people. At those times, how do we demonstrate that God is at the heart of every celebration? Can we honor God appropriately while focusing so much attention on people? How do we keep God at the center? We can answer those questions in various ways. Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Ac. 17:18); “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Through Him we have birth and life and every thing and every person in our lives. So God is the reason we have anything to celebrate. He is the ultimate source of our celebrations. As we read in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” When we realize that the child, spouse, the life, the friends, the family are all gifts from our Father, it makes every celebration a “thanksgiving” day, a time to express our heart of thanks to God. Saint Augustine said something that might help us when we worry that making much of a person might somehow be competition for our love of God. “For he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.” In other words, as my husband explains, “If created things are seen and handled as gifts of God and as mirrors of His glory, they need not be occasions of idolatry – if our delight in them is always also a delight in their Maker.” Thinking about a few special days might help us see how much this truth can play out.
From His possession of this “mind,” and in indescribable generosity He looked at the things of others, and descended with His splendor eclipsed – appeared not as a God in glory, but clothed in flesh; not in royal robes, but in the dress of a village youth; not as Deity in fire, but a man in tears; not in a palace, but in a manger; not with a thunderbolt in His hand, but with the hatchet and hammer of a Galilean mechanic.
Twelve creative twists on Thanksgiving tradition
1. Olives -- Peppered Citrus Olives
2. Carrots -- Grated Carrot and Date Salad with Gorgonzola
3. Turkey -- Rosemary-Sage Turkey Breast
4. Dressing -- Dried Fig and Apricot Stuffing
5. Gravy -- Sherried Portobello Gravy
6. Onions -- Cornbread and Apple-Stuffed Onions
7. First Potato -- Spicy Sweet Potato Won Tons
8. Second Potato -- Parsley Root and Pureed Potatoes
9. Peas -- Pea Shoots and Jerusalem Artichokes
10. Cranberries -- Cranberry Sorbet
11. Pie -- Pumpkin Ice Cream Tarts
12. Leftovers -- Double Celery Turkey Salad
A PLAN FOR GETTING READY
One week before: Make Pumpkin Ice Cream; make Cranberry Sorbet.
One week to three days before: Make Peppered Citrus Olives.
The day before: Make pastry shells for Pumpkin Ice Cream Tarts; make
cornbread and parboil onions for Corn Bread and Apple- Stuffed Onions.
The morning of the day: Peel potatoes and parsley root; keep in cold water
until read to cook.
Make Dried Fig and Apricot Stuffing.
Bake sweet potatoes and chop serrano chiles for Spicy Sweet Potato Won
Tons.
Make dressing for Grated Carrot and Date Salad.
Make dressing for Pea Shoot Salad with Jerusalem Artichokes.
The San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 1995
Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V4 #194 by Linda Place
<placel@worldnet.att.net> on Jul 27, 1997
A Message from our Provider:
“Some minds are like concrete, thy’re roughly mixed up and permanently set.”
How useful was this recipe?
Click on a star to rate it!
Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0
No votes so far! Be the first to rate this recipe.
We are sorry that this recipe was not useful for you!