Thanksgiving is Nearing

 

I felt joy surge through my being yesterday when my husband announced that he was going to cook the turkey this Thanksgiving.  “You are?”

I smiled wholeheartedly. “Why are you surprised at that? I’ve cooked the turkey for the last three or four years.”

For some reason I’ve been sick for the last three or four Thanksgivings, which I promptly told him. Still, the joy remained.

“Sick on purpose,” he said with a smile.

I am determined to slow down in the next week, as much as possible and get to bed at a decent hour. Anyhow, he has been watching professional and non-professional cooks on YouTube fix mouth-watering turkeys for at least two days now. Last night we stayed up until almost one a.m. watching Gordon Ramsey slice onions and squeeze lemons and swirl rosemary in preparation for a Christmas turkey with fixings. Imagine my dismay when we watched the same show at 9:00 p.m. tonight. If I’d known, I would have dragged myself away from the creative cooking last night.

I don’t feel that grand tonight, so I’m going to bed as soon as I can when I finish here.

I got thinking what it says in Eph._5:16, (ASV),  “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

As I’ve neared the end of the day, watching cooking shows, I wondered what I accomplished today. I spent a small amount of time in the Word this morning, and as I straightened papers in our green room I ran into Scriptures and read them. I typed for about two hours for a client in regards to Amish folk and their thoughts on the Scriptures came up every now and again. As I typed, they made mention of greed or wastefulness in America. Then they spoke of their own spiritual struggles to remain humble or to battle temptation when strangers offered them money because they thought the family was poor.

I appreciate the opportunity to work while I can. I’m aware that I’m getting older. So, I value the time I have with a fairly healthy body. Yet, realizing this lady’s life story, so radically different than mine, I see that I’ve been pampered much of my life. Every person has struggles and problems, it’s part of the human condition, it seems to me, since the fall of Adam and Eve and the turning them out of Paradise. So, I’ve had things to deal with that she didn’t, but I can’t imagine being gawked at because of my clothing and hairstyle and lifestyle being so radically different than the society I live in. People constantly asked them about their faith and how they lived and if they could take their picture, which they didn’t care for. She and her husband truly strove for humility. She preferred to stay in the background when running into curious strangers.

As a Christian, I run into it a little in America, looking different. Years ago, when clothing for twelve year olds was skimpy short and tight, trying to find modest clothing for my daughter was a nightmare. She began making her own t-shirts in the style that was popular, but she could lengthen them and find a size with a little breathing room. It’s nice that she’s artistic. We have a church in our town where the women all wear dresses. Our denomination does not, but we do try to retain femininity with modesty in mind.

Anyway, since Thanksgiving is not that far away, I’m getting the house ready and gathering groceries a week at a time for the non-perishables and calling my daughter to see what she’s bringing, etc. My mind is on Amish viewpoints some of the time and my world view with its responsibilities the rest of the time.

I do understand that I have many blessings. I pray I may never take what God has done for me for granted.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving when the day arrives if you celebrate it where you live. I keep feeling like time is short and precious.

May God bless you

Life Up On the Hill

A friend of mine lives up on a hill. Sometimes she’ll say, “What is the weather doing down there? I’m in the middle of a blizzard.”

I’ll respond, “It’s sunny and clear down here, a bit nippy.”

We don’t live far apart, but in some ways we’re in radically different parts of the world. As I drove up a roadway, on the way to her home, I saw a lady with a mid-blue cap covering all her hair, wearing a long lighter-blue dress with a cinched waistline. Beside her, a much younger version strode with matching clothes and cap, holding her hand, both walking barefoot on the side of the road over the sharp stones with nary a glance down at their soles.

I wish I had their permission to take a picture.

Later, I sat on her front porch and listened to the whir of a hummingbird, louder than the playing card attached to the spokes of my bicycle zooming down the street many years ago, or so my memory tells me. She said sometimes there’s more than one and they get competing or playing, and sometimes they dive-bomb whoever’s on the porch, so Watch Out. 🙂

A bee shared the sugar-water at the feeder when the minuscule bomber flew away. As soon as the pointed beak headed our way, the bee would float out of range and wait until the tiny bird fled. The bee mosied back and suddenly retreated. Our blindingly fast flyer was back to sip again. “They must have an understanding,” my friend said.

We walked her unpaved street and avoided the horse droppings. We turned our backs to the dust clouds from a fast-moving truck. The driver stopped and talked to an Amish farmer a piece up the road. Her neighbors help her when she needs some service for her horse or when she needs a newly milled plank for her barn.

I stayed by her side. I felt a little like a visitor in a foreign land. What a rich life she leads. Would I like to live there? Would you, with dust billowing many times a day? With stores and friends many miles away?