From the Home Place

November 27, 2025

Good morning all! We are at 21, headed for 40 today. The gentle breeze shouldn’t blow anyone off the road today. I suppose the roads will be busy today with travelers, so stay safe out there please.

Miss Deb and I are at home today. We bought a small turkey breast to put in the smoker for lunch, and I have a brisket in the smoker for supper with a friend coming by around that time. Looks like it just me and my two girls for the most of this day!

Thanksgiving always brings John 3:16 to mind, “For God so loved the world that He gave.” Remember: “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” All by God’s design, and example. Our loving Heavenly Father has given us the greatest example of true love that anyone could ever give. Because God’s nature is to show genuine love, He is a giver.

Stop and think about it: God has given you breath, the primary sign of life. Back in the 70’s I served as an EMT on our local ambulance crew. Every bit of education I received for that task taught me that if a person is found unconscious, the first thing I was to do was to check to see if that person was breathing. Why? Because breathing is a sign of life.

When a baby is born, what is the first thing the doctor looks for as soon as the baby is born, is that little one breathing! And then there is the Genesis 2 account of how God created Adam with the exact form God wanted him to have, but then God breathed “the breath of life” into Adam’s lungs and we read that he became a “living being.” Without breath, there is no life. So stop all of your Thanksgiving hurriedness and thank God that He has helped your body to breathe today!

Then ask Him what He wants you to do with your breathing body. I’m betting that the answer from God will sound quite simple, “Love!” All our Heavenly Father asks us to do with the breath that He has given us, is to love Him and those He brings into our path today.

It stands to reason, if God gives out of love, He should expect His children to do the same. So, give that hug, give that food, give your time, give your breath out of a heart filled with love. And not the same love that you “love” food with. No, the love that God gives is a sacrificial love, so we are to give the same kind of love. We are to give to others because He has first given to us. Really, all we are doing is passing along that which we have received. We are the conduit through which God sends His love into all of the world.

Note, God gave the best He had to give to you – His Son! That’s the kind of love that we are to give as well. We are to give everything and everyone that is precious to us as a love-gift to others. We are so blessed that our children and grandchildren will all be eating a meal somewhere else, with someone else, yet their love is crowded around our table!

So today, if you are blessed to be at a table with your loved ones, may I suggest that everyone stop all of the business and take a moment to just breathe, praising God for the simplest of human functions, that which is the primary measure of life, breathing His love to others. Also, thank God for giving His best! Then enjoy all of the gifts of love who are seated around your table. Oh ya, then all of you who are together can also enjoy the food on your table. And we all know out there somewhere someone will say something like, “I’m so full that I can hardly breathe.”

Enjoy this special day with the special people gathered with you, and Miss Deb, Coffee and I will do the same; each grateful that He allows us to breathe for one more day of Thanks for Giving!

Breathing with you, Neal