Is the Harvest Plentiful?

Gratitude ...

goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.

In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.

Henri Nouwen

I awoke this morning and prepped myself to get up and cook my thanksgiving dishes--Big Daddy has been in the kitchen cooking and eating now for two days.  This morning is my turn to use the kitchen.  We learned along time ago in our marriage--that we shouldn't use the kitchen at the same time.  We get along better that way.  So this morning is my turn....

My heart is heavy this morning and I feel a bit guilty at the abundance found in the "off-color family" home.

Not guilty in a bad way, but thankful I suppose I should say...

thankful for Big Daddy, off color daughter and off color son...

thankful for the sweet potatoes i have baking early in the oven this morning, thankful for the warmth in the house on a cool day, thankful for three cars in the drive way--even for my ghetto van..

thankful for the two income family I am privy too...

thankful that my children can go to school--even when they really would rather stay home in bed....many kids in the world are not as blessed.

I can't help but feel the depth of the disparity this morning and feel some guilt that I participate this morning as a "have".....

I read the paper...

millions are losing their homes right here in what we claim to be the greatest country in the world---

food banks and food pantries find their shelves bare as millions resort to standing in line to feed their children....

the jobless rate is at an all time high....

I feel the burden of the world this morning...

think of those mothers and fathers who

can't provide the abundance for their children this morning...

think of folks in homeless shelters,

sleeping under bridges,

sleeping in cars and vans and tiny little campers---sometimes raising their families in tents on the outskirts of town...

The harvest...

Is it Plentiful?

Are the laborers few?---don't think so....the jobs are few as we've sent our work to someplace cheaper where child labor is supported---for some reason we run on the idea of wealth instead of heart these days...

The world is heavy today...

and

in the midst of the heaviness

I breath out,

look in the kitchen and there stands big daddy in his valentines underwear bent over the dishwasher,

in his house slippers looking sexy as he is unloading the dishes...

and

I smile...

Cecil the Devil Dog from the Gates of Hell is standing watch

waiting for Big Daddy to drop a scrap....

the off color kids are cuddled in their own rooms in their own beds

warm and fed....

the light shines..

and

I am so thankful for this moment in time...

when I celebrate my blessings..

The question I ask myself is---

what can I do to change the world--

to decrease the disparity between my kids and my neighbors,

how do we celebrate diversity and love and abundance in a world

where war continues,

people starve,

children watch fast food commercials and go to bed hungry...

heavy questions on a day of celebration...

The harvest---it is not plentiful...

so what are we gonna do about it?

Happy thanksgiving

hugs and blessings..

i gotta go...got cooking to do....

tomorrow will visit my family of origin and

celebrate once again...

I am blessed.

Count your blessings...big and small...