Two Secrets to Make Your Thanksgiving Day a Success

I’ve served over 1,000 people Thanksgiving dinner and cooked at least 75 turkeys (thanks to our days overseas ministering to the American military stationed in Okinawa, Japan). And I want to let you in on two secrets to make your Thanksgiving Day a success next week.

1. Bake your turkey on Wednesday. Put it in your fridge now, to defrost. On Wednesday put it in a baking bag, add butter and spices, tie it up, and roast it. After it’s cooked through, remove it from the bag, but keep all the juices (fat) in the bag. Carve it. Then, place all the carved pieces in a large baking dish and cover all the cooked meat with the juices you saved. Cover the bird in foil and refrigerate over night. Reheat it on Thanksgiving Day (covered in foil) at 350 for a couple hours, or until the juices are bubbling. Your bird will be super moist and delicious and you will have no turkey stress on the your big day. Trust me! Do this.

2. And secondly, remember that you’re human. I think we are all tempted to pretend we’re super-human when we have guests in our homes. We want everything spotless, the food delicious, the drinks Pinterest perfect, and the centerpieces resembling something from Magnolia. Listen, you and I don’t have to be all farm-to-table, locally-sourced fabulous, organic-fair-trade-apron-wearing-perfect next Thursday. We can’t be. All we can be is human. God is God and we are not. You and I need sleep. We need to remember who it is we’re thanking—who it is that gives us life and breath and everything else.

Let’s forego perfection for abiding. Let’s forego Instagrammable for meaningful. Let’s be willing to serve up simple for the sake of quality time with our loved ones. Let’s breathe. Unclench.

Let’s you and I put Jesus (not ourselves) on display next Thursday. Let’s remember that he is God and we are not. We don’t have to be perfect, because he already is. Let’s draw our own attention and our guests’ attention to him, not to ourselves. He is good and worthy and a day centered on him will make an eternal impression. Let’s thank him, and not seek to be thanked ourselves.

And let’s bake our turkeys on Wednesday, because that helps too.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! (Psalm 107:1)

See also: After serving over 1,000 people Thanksgiving dinner here's my advice