A Thanksgiving Memory Revisited

This week we were visited by an elderly couple who are on the board for our Electric company co-op. The reason for the visit? Knowing that we are a large family with quite a few children still at home,  she asked if first of all we 'd be offended if they asked us if they could give us a turkey for Thanksgiving as the co-op was making a list of families who could use some help over the holidays and second, if they could bring that turkey to us. I gave the woman a hug and thanked her for thinking of us. My response to her question caused her to give me a hug right back. We ARE a very large family , this is true. We are in no way "financially" wealthy, this too is true, we are not financially "poor" either, also true. We are blessed, we have enough, we have enough to share, to plan to share and then to be able to share. I told the woman this and that we really appreciated what they had asked, I had a request of her: to please give that turkey to a family who needed it truly more than we did , in our name since WE were their original "target family". It was not pride and it wasn't turning down a blessing. It was passing on a blessing ...................... THAT stirred a memory of a much different time in our family history.
My husband's business had not been doing very well that particular autumn. We had several clients who had not paid their bills to us, and when you're self-employed, that means a lot of other folks don't get paid either and that things tend to get very lean in the household of the self-employed. In spite of that, I always managed to buy some extra canned goods and staples so that there was something to share with someone who simply could not buy those things at all. Our church was having its annual food drive to put together Thanksgiving baskets for needy families and of course each of our children brought their canned goods to the church kitchen to add to the growing stacks and piles. They were so exited to help and share! They were so looking forward to helping put those gift boxes together out of all that food stuff! Later in that same evening the ladies in charge of assembling and distributing the boxes called me aside from my AWANA Sparks group (K-2nd graders Bible  class).

They both had tears in their eyes when they told me, "we were speechless when you and your children came in with bags of things for the Thanksgiving Boxes. YOUR FAMILY is one that we are doing a box for!" THAT made ME speechless. I had not thought of us as "needy" and it just didn't our to me that anyone else would.
They asked me not to tell my children because the ids were all starting to work on the boxes that night and were having so much fun. My bringing things to share had really touched and blessed them and they wanted me to know that. I was so very blessed by their loving words and our family was beyond blessed by the Thanksgiving Boxes! I had not thought of that for a while, but this morning that memory came flooding back.

With the Apostle Paul I an say that I know what it is to" be abased and to abound", and I am reminded often "in all things to be content" We had plenty when we "didn't have plenty" and this year we have plenty enough to share more of that plenty and to ask a blessing to be passed along.

God has been faithful to us every single day! We have seen incredibly lean times and some that were pretty amazingly "plump" but for the most part we have been quite comfortable.............not "if I need a thing I can go right out and buy it NOW" comfortable, but comfortable. Having been in many places where people have nothing whatsoever, I am  all the more aware of how precious and how huge "comfortable" really is. It reminds me to stay thankful  and to be mindful of when I start to complain about my "stuff" or circumstances.

I am reminded so often by my own children how blessed we are . I will never forget our Isaac's first Thanksgiving in America. He was 8, and had been home about 9 months. We had talked about Thanksgiving being a feast, or really big special meal to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. I tried to explain turkey , as bigger than any chicken he'd ever seen. He'd seen me buy this huge turkey package but it was wrapped in plastic so still pretty hidden away . I roasted the turkey, Charlie came and carved it up, putting the platter of sliced meat into the oven to stay warm while we prepared the other food items for the meal. Isaac came into the kitchen, saw the carcass in the roasting pan, scraps of meat hanging off of it , intended for soup for another meal and his eyes got bigger and bigger as his thoughts raced through his head and words began to sputter out of his mouth. "Mommy?   Is T H A T the feast?" he asked with an enormous smile of amazement stretched across his whole face. I lost it. What I was referring to as scraps was the picture of a feast to a small boy from a very impoverished previous life.

"Give thanks with a grateful heart   Give thanks to the Holy One    Give Thanks because He's given Jesus Christ His Son.........AND NOW let the weak say 'I am strong'    Let the poor say 'I am rich'
 because of what the Lord has done for us       Give thanks!!!"
"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow      Praise Him all creatures here below    Praise Him all ye heavenly host Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! AMEN!!"