I had my first turkey dinner the other day.

I mean, there has to be a first for everything, doesn’t there? 

There was the first time you tied your shoe laces. Maybe you even remember that time. 

I still have a faint memory of me sitting on the steps by the back door of our house when I shouted, “I did it!” And my mom came running to look.  

That had to be about sixty years ago that I tied my shoes laces for the first time. 

I’ve had many firsts since then. We all have.

One really memorable first for me was skating on an outdoor rink at a school yard. 

I was alone; it was probably about 9:30 pm. There were no lights, only the light of the moon reflecting off the ice.

It wasn’t the first time I had skated, but it was the first time I had skated after having surgery to repair an artery in my leg. 

I had injured it playing hockey and was now carrying a six inch, eighteen stitch scar at the top of my leg. I wondered if I would be able to skate again so I headed to a school rink late at night to test it out. 

I remember skating around that rink in the dark, being so thankful that I was alright and that I could skate with no pain or restriction. 

I remember just thanking God over and over and over as I buzzed around the rink taking slaps against the boards.

I guess in the same way that skate was my first, yesterday my turkey dinner was also the first of a kind. 

You see, it was the first time that our daughter cooked turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. 

And she did really well – delicious, I might add!

There had to be a first time, and the situation presented itself this year. This was it. 

Over dinner we talked about the first time Lily had made a turkey dinner. She and I had been married just a couple of months. She thought she would do it all from scratch … except for raising and feeding the turkey herself. 

She even made pumpkin pie from scratch. After making the pie and commenting on how hard it was to cut up the pumpkin, and how time consuming it was to cook and prepare it, a friend informed Lily, “You know you can buy cooked pumpkin in a can for the pie filling.” 

Lily responded, “Wait. What?!”

She’s never made it from scratch since. 

Well, Karlie had her mom’s experience to guide her in making her pumpkin pie and first turkey dinner. 

A “Griswold Christmas Vacation” it was not. No exploding turkey. 

Everyone raved at how good everything was … even the stuffing – an old secret family recipe that some say Karlie made better than her mom. 

I guess this means that we will be eating turkey dinners for years to come.

Here’s the thing: Often our prayer time ends rather abruptly. We get to the end of what we want to say to God and we wrap it up quickly with an “amen”. Let me challenge you to try something for the first time: Linger after you’ve finished your list to God. Ask Him a question and just wait. Listen for what He might bring to your mind. Your first time might turn into many more times to come.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What “first” have you experienced in the last year? Leave your comments and questions below.

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