Nov 20, 2008

Thanksgiving: Pennies and a Big Blue Sky

L.L. here. Thinking about Thanksgiving. Remembering a book I just had to read. Because my cousin-in-law (is there such a thing?) did the cover illustration.

The book is about a young woman who braves prairie life to secure government-offered land. I won’t tell you whether she wins or loses the fields, but I will l tell you: she sure faced hard times. Sweltering days. Skin-splitting tasks. Too few pennies. Too many seeds to buy and fences to mend.

She also faced profound isolation at times. Says Hattie, “To keep myself company, I’d taken to conducting chore-time conversations with God. My self-imposed rule was that each conversation must start on a thankful note. Sometimes that kept the discussion from really getting going.”

I love that honesty. She talked to God. She tried to be thankful. Some days this didn’t work out.

Like Hattie, some of us may be facing hard times. Financial concerns, illness, a past that won’t quite settle down. We may be finding it hard to be thankful. I think that’s okay for a season. And I think God welcomes such struggle at His table.

Or maybe some of us can’t relate to Hattie right now. We’re reveling in good times, happy at home and in the world. This too is welcome at the table.

How are you entering this Thanksgiving season? What do you bring to the table this year?

I invite you to join a Thanksgiving Celebration and share with the High Calling Blogs, Seedlings in Stone and Christianity Today communities. Plant a few seeds, mend some fences, or tell us how big and beautiful life feels under the great blue sky.

And we can give thanks together.

Fall Trees Painting by Saima Barkat. Book reference is to Hattie Big Sky, cover illustrated by Jonathan Barkat (just call this the family affair post :-).