The Timing of Thanksgiving

It's the nature of the film industry that employment on any one job is of limited duration. A movie is budgeted, the crew gathers together for a few weeks or months of active shooting, and then scatters once more to wherever the next project takes them. While boredom is rarely an issue, neither is there any such thing as job security, as plans can be canceled on short notice when financing falls through or there is a relationship fallout between some of the key people involved. As contacts are made and reputations are built, the job offers come more readily, but the pursuit of a paycheck can be a constant struggle for those just starting out.

As a worry-prone mother of an electrician/lighting technician in the industry, I long ago committed my son's employment and financial status to God. My job is simply to thank Him in advance for taking care of the issue and for building in my son the skills set and personal character needed to be successful. Therefore, I was delighted with the news that his November bills would be covered by a three-week stint on a short film in at the start of a traditionally slow season of the year. Additionally, there was the hope that he might jump onto another movie after Thanksgiving. When telling a family member that we were keeping our fingers crossed that this would happen, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't need to cross fingers on hands already clasped in prayer.

Two words in the situation I was relaying suddenly caught my attention: the job he wanted would start after Thanksgiving. More than a suggested start date, the combination refers to the timing of any expected answer to prayer. Truly the key to unleashing God's bounty in any situation is to thank Him for releasing His answers and gifts before they are received. The traditional celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday is to look back on the year just past and give thanks for the good things that have occurred in the preceding three hundred and sixty-five days. But if that's all we do, we stop short of receiving the full blessing that God has packed into that twelve-letter word.

I'm approaching the Thanksgiving holiday a little differently this year as a result. As usual, when our family gathers around the dinner table and looks at the platters of steaming family favorites set before us, we'll go one by one around the room and tell what we're especially thankful for this year. When my turn comes I will certainly thank God for His faithfulness in the year just past. But this time I will also thank Him for the same in the year to come, thanking Him in advance for His answers to the specific situations I've laid at His feet.

Too often we pray with the attitude of a quarterback who throws a pass deep and just hopes that a team member will catch it downfield. It's a last ditch effort to save a situation that we deem hopeless in the extreme. Yet God wants us to realize that He is on the receiving end of our prayers and He never drops a one. He honors hands raised in praise, those signaling victory before the end zone has actually been reached. In my son's situation it is that praise and thanks in advance that will turn the possibility of a job offer into a check deposited in the bank. The job may start after the holiday, but not before the thanksgiving – I've made sure of that!

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;”

(Philippians 4:6 NKJV, emphasis mine)