Who is excited for Thanksgiving? I look forward to the holiday every year. A day set aside to focus on gratitude. Gratitude for living in a great country for sure, but even more so, gratitude for all of the blessings God has bestowed. The blessings of salvation, family and friends. And turkey and football… can’t forget the football.
For the last few years, we have hosted Thanksgiving at our home, and while I knew the day was approaching quickly; I must admit that I was quite late in preparing for the event. We host the dinner in my shop because it is the largest “room” that we have. Of course, for over 11 months now my shop has been home to many woodworking projects. So… to host the dinner means that it is time to give the shop its annual deep cleaning… something that I usually begin in late October but had yet to start. (I think you can figure out what my plans were for the weekend.)
Cobwebs, clutter in the corners, dirty tools and sawdust… Ah! The sawdust! I have a vacuum system hooked to all my tools to dispose of sawdust — and it works fairly well — but the sawdust still gets everywhere. I actually open up all the doors and begin by using my leaf blower to blast the sawdust off everything and out the door! It sure does take a lot of time to clean every tool… every work bench… every wall and the floor to make the shop nice for Thanksgiving dinner — but it’s worth it. We sure do love having the family together at our place. I enjoy cooking the turkeys… one roasted, one rotisserie, and one deep fried. Yep, I really do look forward to the day and the work is worth it — and it does give me a reason to clean the shop well at least once a year.
As I worked on cleaning up the shop this weekend, I was reminded of an old Christian song written by Keith Green. Keith was one of the founders of modern Christian contemporary music and in 1981 he wrote a song called Rushing Wind, and since I have the song on my phone I played it through the speaker system in the shop.
Rushing wind, blow through this temple
Blowing out the dust within
Come and breathe Your breath upon me
I’ve been born again
Holy Spirit, I surrender
Take me where You want to go
Plant me by Your living waters
Plant me deep so I can grow
Jesus, You’re the one
Who set my spirit free
Use me, Lord, glorify
Your holy name through me
Separate me from this world, Lord
Sanctify my life for You
Daily change me to Your image
Help me bear good fruit
I love the words of that song… and they line right up with what we have talked about in our church last week and what we will today as well. May the Holy Spirit rush through you and I, and may He blow out whatever needs to be cleansed. Holy Spirit, as we surrender to you… grow us… shape us… change us to your image… and help us bear good fruit. Yep, a little house cleaning is a good thing from time to time. Holy Spirit blow through me.
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