“We know and we rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them… There’s no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” 1John 4:16-18
Heavenly Father, it’s all here in this one passage—the wonders of your love, the essence of your being, and our calling every moment. As surely as a lot of kitchen prep-work will be going on today, so also we prepare our hearts. Whatever Thanksgiving 2024 holds for us, you hold us tighter.
Because of your great love for us in Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of the risks of love. May your perfect love continue to drive out our fears—including fears related to the awkwardness of new and absent faces, struggles in our own hearts, tensions between friends and family, the first Thanksgiving after a funeral or a breakup—whatever our scenario this year, grant us a freedom to rely on your love to a degree and in ways that even shocks us.
Give us kind, present, playful hearts, Abba. Free us from the “need” to babysit anybody’s emotions, or read too much into anyone’s body language. May your welcome be more real than our worries—your peace more obvious than our concerns. Supersize your love in our hearts and in our midst. None of us is beyond either the need or reach of your grace. At the end of the day, there won’t be an end to your mercy, kindness, and ongoing work in the lives of people we love. Hallelujah, thank you, and So Very Amen.
