Growing
up, thanksgivings began at five o clock in the morning and didn't end
until midnight. Days before hand I would be in the kitchen
with my mom preparing food for the day of the feast. My siblings and
I would take charge of cleaning the house and finding "autumn-ish"
decorations and adorning the room. I treasure these Thanksgivings,
because it was from these days how I learned for to prepare and serve
50 people a delicious Thanksgiving meal. However, this year, my 20th
Thanksgiving, I learned a slightly different lesson. I started my day
as usual, five am but instead I spent an hour in the word, and
drinking coffee with Travis. I ate breakfast,and went to my Acts
class. After lunch dishes, I began to to finish up homework because I
was going to Split,Croatia for a weekend outreach. I packed my bags
and finished up the last bits of homework that I had, I realized that
it was Thanksgiving day and I had not even seen oven. It felt odd to
me, not to bake and I began to feel a bit homesick. I began to
reminiscence about the days of my girlhood and the way the house
smelt and how all of seemingly decided to wear sweaters, regardless
if we were going out that day. I shook my head and set my mind to the
tasks of the afternoon. I helped Travis pack the car, and along with
all of the luggage, we crammed milk,corn flakes, muesli,milk,coffee
and chips into the vehicle. At four thirty Travis,four other girls
and myself squeezed ourselves into the car and drove away. And it
wasn't until 6:30 that night that I partook of my
"Thanksgiving Meal". It was a cherry corny bar and a few
chips. I could almost feel the tears well up in my eyes as I thought
of the food my family would be eating at this point, I missed the
fellowship that my family shares and the seemingly never ending night
of laughter. These were memories that had made up my life, but now
that I am an adult, I will be making new memories and new traditions.
My thanksgivings may not be in a home with all of my family, but they
may be spent with people that I love and visiting a beautiful
city. The rest of my Thanksgiving was spent on the road talking to
Travis about our trip back to his Arizonian home and traveling
that we will be doing. I am truly a blessed person, in my 20 years of
life, I have lived in four different countries and have visited 18,
and I am able to attend a bible teaching bible college . I am
surrounded by people who love me dearly and who pray for me on a
daily basis. God is blessing me daily with so much I can hardly take
it in.
So I encouraged my sweet friend,that no
matter what you did for this Thanksgiving, next Thanksgiving or a
Thanksgiving ten years from now, God gave His Son for you so that you
have the option of living eternally with Him. And that is something
that no amount of Thanksgiving could express my thankfulness.
-Autumn
-2 Corinthians 9:15
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