401 K's depleted, thousands of jobs lost and 85,000 homes were foreclosed last week alone!!! Cancer, medical bills, no insurance, loss of a loved one.....is it possible to still be THANKful???
The following story is told by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson. It is about a man by the name of Miles Standish, who endured a Bitter Winter and a Better Thanksgiving:
"Then the sickness begane to fall sore amongst them, and the weather so bad...the Gov/r and cheefe of them, seeing so many dye, and fall downe sick dayly, thought it no wisdom to send away the ship...."
Capt. Mile Standish had been at his wife Rose's bedside. As much time, that is, as he could spare from stalking game, guarding against savages, and felling trees to construct crude homes on shore.
A bitter wind whistled through the chinks and cracks in the Mayflower, anchored in Plymouth Harbor that winter of 1620-21. Rose's chills would turn to incontrollable shaking. Then just as suddenly, her body would ablaze with fever. Herbs fromt he surgeon's chest did little to relieve her. By spring only five wives remained out of the eighteen who had sailed to Plymouth. Rose was not among them.
Thanksgiving? What was that? The golden dreams of a New World that Miles and Rose has cherished together had evaporated into hollow hopes. And yet that fall Capt. Standish joined other bereaved Pilgrims in the first Thanksgiving celebration.
The real test of thankfulness is whether we can give thanks from the heart for what we do have, despite the wounds and pains of yesterday's struggles. Ours is not some fair weather faith, but a resilient trust in the middle of pain. The Pilgrims lived close to the edge of survival. Perhaps that is why they were so thankful.
In the book of JOB, Job says, "The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away.....who am I to question God? Nevertheless, I shall praise him and give thanks".
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment