We call it our “round rock,” although it isn’t completely round. We hauled it all the way from New Jersey when we moved here because it meant something special.

Rocks were rare in our garden there. So it seemed a remarkable discovery, and because it was a novelty we used it as a sort of garden ornament. Here, we grow rocks! No kidding! You think you’ve got them all culled out of a plot, and next spring, up they spring, working their way to the top as if they could float!

But we still keep this rock as something special. It’s a reminder, that “thus far has the Lord helped us,” giving us confidence that He’ll help us along till the end. I think its name could be Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7:12).

That said, skip with me to my friend Pam’s most recent post, about other “Ebenezers” and a great new Thanksgiving/Advent “dare” idea that came to her as she was doing her own similar reflecting.

By the time I read her post, I’d already written the first two paragraphs above and taken the shot of our Ebenezer. (My picture was for the Scavenger Hunt Sunday photo search and share, which I decided not to share after all—no photo captures worth it!) And at the very time I clicked the link to read Pam’s Ebenezer post, I was pondering how to make our family Thanksgiving just that, what its name says.

It’s like pulling teeth. Or a kite that won’t fly, no matter how hard you run with it. Last year we got as far as cutting out leaves and stamping Thank You, God on them, but in the busy of fun and family never wrote our thank-you’s on them, let alone talking about them!

But this Ebenezer idea just might soar. (Can rocks fly? Well, anyhow…)

I’m about to go searching on our rocky ground. Or, if I get desperate enough, across the road and up and down the creek bed. I’ve often thought of adopting an Ebenezer stone to sit as a paperweight atop my desk, to remind me. How about an Ebby for each family member to take home? How about writing something on those paper leaves left over and tucked away from last year? Like how “this far the LORD has helped us…” in the varied aspects and adventures of 2013… And maybe even a “Rocky Ebenezer’s Notebook” for keeping track of “Ebenezer moments” in the coming year?

Yes, it’s worth a try…

~~~

Maybe you’d like to take up the Ebenezer Dare in your own way? If so, it would be nice if you let Pam know, in a comment or link to her blog. And a specially blessed Thanksgiving to you!