Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Thanksgiving "vignettes"

It’s that wonderful time of the year again…the time we call Thanksgiving. How thankful have you been in the past year? I want to share a few short Thanksgiving “vignettes” with you that call us to reflect on how thankful we really are.
 
Vignette #1: Dr. H.A. Ironside, a well-known Presbyterian minister from Philadelphia in the early 1900s, once walked into a crowded restaurant for lunch. Just as he was beginning his meal, a man approached Ironside and asked if he could join him at his table. Pastor Ironside invited the man to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked: “Do you have a headache?” “No, I don’t,” replied Ironside. The other man asked, “Well then, is something wrong with your food?” Ironside replied, “I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat. “

Ironside’s guest then said, “Oh, so you’re one of those guys, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks to anyone. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I’ve become successful on my own energy and intelligence. I don’t have to give thanks to anyone when I eat. I just start right in!”

To which the pastor replied: “Yeah, that’s just like my dog at home. That’s what he does, too!”

Vignette #2: Many of us have heard of Captain Miles Standish, who came with the Pilgrims in 1620 to Massachusetts. We know the story; that first winter many of their group died. Standish’s wife, Rose, was seriously ill and was confined to the Mayflower, which was anchored in the harbor. Rose’s chills would turn to uncontrollable shaking and there were no medicines to cure her. By spring of 1621, only 5 wives remained of the 18 who had come to Plymouth. Rose was not among them.

Thanksgiving? What was that? The golden dreams of a new world that Standish and Rose had cherished together had evaporated into hollow hopes. And yet Captain Standish joined other bereaved Pilgrims in that 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 pain of yesterday’s struggles. Ours in not some fair-weather faith, but a resilient trust in the midst of pain and struggle. The Pilgrims lived close to the edge of survival. Perhaps that is why they were so thankful.

Vignette #3: During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when it was at its worst, one day a group of men was sitting together discussing the sad state of affairs. One of them was a Methodist minister and college professor, William Stidger. The conversation concerned the decline in commerce and grew more dismal at every moment. But as Thanksgiving Day was near, another minister chimed in: “I have to preach on Thanksgiving Day. I want to say something affirmative, but how can I do that in such a period of depression and gloom like this?”

Pastor Stidger began to think of the blessings HE had enjoyed in life, and the things for which he was truly thankful. He remembered one of his teachers from school whom he hadn’t heard from or contacted in many years. Although it was years ago, he still remembered how she had gone out of her way to instill a love of poetry and literature in him, and Stidger had loved poetry and literature ever after that. So he wrote a letter to this now quite elderly woman. This is the reply she sent him. Barely legible because of her trembling hands, it began: “My dear Willie.” He was thrilled to read that. Stidger was over 50 years of age, balding, and a bit of a “pudgie” seminary professor, and he didn’t think there was anyone left in the world to call him “Willie.” Here is some of what Stidger’s school teacher wrote:

My dear Willie, I cannot tell you how much your note meant to me. I am now in my 80s, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn, lingering behind.

You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a blustery, cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has in many years.

Stidger was not a sentimental man, but he wept over that note. There were numerous other notes he wrote during the next weeks, thanking people who’d had a vital part in shaping his life.

Who do you need to thank today?

Submitted by Tom Horst, MA MFT
Marriage and Family Therapist

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