My heart is full as I anticipate gathering as a family for another day of Thanksgiving. My eyes become moist with tears when I realize that each and every day should be a day of thanksgiving in my life.
Reflecting on my blessings helps me better understand how easy it is to get wrapped up in the blanket of ingratitude. One thing that has helped me peel off that blanket is the study of the tragic and sad parts of the history of the world where men have treaded upon the rights of their fellow men with impunity. I am humbled as I think about the pain, heartache, and suffering that millions have endured because of the greed, pride, and selfishness of a few. While there is sadness in my heart for all these atrocities of society there isn’t anything I can do to change the past. But there are things that I can do today to help make someone’s life less pained and less difficult.
I recently attended a cousin’s reunion back in the area where I grew up. There on those dusty country roads of East Texas years ago, I ran barefoot, played in the woods, found ancient Indian arrowheads and dammed up the creek to swim in the cool water that washed away the heat of a summer afternoon. As I washed away that heat I didn’t realize that at the same time I was bathing myself with memories that would remain with me all my life.
In those carefree days we ran shoeless and shirtless except when coming to the supper table. We felt safe and loved under the watchful eyes of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Within their care we weren’t able to stray too far from the course that those “wiser than we” had planned for us.
As youth we were full of energy and enthusiasm. There weren’t enough daylight hours to do all the things we wanted to do. As we ran through the house headed for the front door that opened the world to us, often the last words I’d hear were “Don’t slam the screen door.” We’d be gone until hunger drew us back to Granny’s house for hot rolls or pound cake and cold milk.
As an adult I gradually began to realize that not everyone had such an innocent childhood. “Why me?” I’d ask. Why was I so blessed? Then I realized I had very little to do with it. It was the people around me that made such a safe, watched-over childhood possible for me. Today, many of those adults who kept a close check on me are gone from this life. They may be physically gone but their memory is very much alive inside of me. I’m reminded of a saying I once saw on a grave marker, “A life well lived, lives on.” The lives of my deceased family members live on in my memory. And every good deed I have done in life is in part a result of their good example and love shown to me.
How grateful I am for my heritage. I owe so much to those who went before me; more than I can ever repay. What small repayment I can make is to help someone, lift someone, encourage someone, or compliment someone. There is a familiar saying, “I can’t do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I will do” with a feeling of gratitude for those who nurtured me in my youth and who were “Wiser than me.”
Each day of our lives can be a Day of Thanksgiving. Though we may not eat turkey, dressing and cranberries each day, we can certainly create a day of thanksgiving in our own lives and in the lives of others as we reach out and touch them in gentle ways. May Heavenly Father’s blessings rain down upon you and bathe you in the soft memories of those in your life who had a positive influence on you and at the time were “Wiser than you.”
Reflecting on my blessings helps me better understand how easy it is to get wrapped up in the blanket of ingratitude. One thing that has helped me peel off that blanket is the study of the tragic and sad parts of the history of the world where men have treaded upon the rights of their fellow men with impunity. I am humbled as I think about the pain, heartache, and suffering that millions have endured because of the greed, pride, and selfishness of a few. While there is sadness in my heart for all these atrocities of society there isn’t anything I can do to change the past. But there are things that I can do today to help make someone’s life less pained and less difficult.
I recently attended a cousin’s reunion back in the area where I grew up. There on those dusty country roads of East Texas years ago, I ran barefoot, played in the woods, found ancient Indian arrowheads and dammed up the creek to swim in the cool water that washed away the heat of a summer afternoon. As I washed away that heat I didn’t realize that at the same time I was bathing myself with memories that would remain with me all my life.
In those carefree days we ran shoeless and shirtless except when coming to the supper table. We felt safe and loved under the watchful eyes of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Within their care we weren’t able to stray too far from the course that those “wiser than we” had planned for us.
As youth we were full of energy and enthusiasm. There weren’t enough daylight hours to do all the things we wanted to do. As we ran through the house headed for the front door that opened the world to us, often the last words I’d hear were “Don’t slam the screen door.” We’d be gone until hunger drew us back to Granny’s house for hot rolls or pound cake and cold milk.
As an adult I gradually began to realize that not everyone had such an innocent childhood. “Why me?” I’d ask. Why was I so blessed? Then I realized I had very little to do with it. It was the people around me that made such a safe, watched-over childhood possible for me. Today, many of those adults who kept a close check on me are gone from this life. They may be physically gone but their memory is very much alive inside of me. I’m reminded of a saying I once saw on a grave marker, “A life well lived, lives on.” The lives of my deceased family members live on in my memory. And every good deed I have done in life is in part a result of their good example and love shown to me.
How grateful I am for my heritage. I owe so much to those who went before me; more than I can ever repay. What small repayment I can make is to help someone, lift someone, encourage someone, or compliment someone. There is a familiar saying, “I can’t do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I will do” with a feeling of gratitude for those who nurtured me in my youth and who were “Wiser than me.”
Each day of our lives can be a Day of Thanksgiving. Though we may not eat turkey, dressing and cranberries each day, we can certainly create a day of thanksgiving in our own lives and in the lives of others as we reach out and touch them in gentle ways. May Heavenly Father’s blessings rain down upon you and bathe you in the soft memories of those in your life who had a positive influence on you and at the time were “Wiser than you.”
6 comments:
Thanks dad. You know, my childhood was pretty good too. Thanks. Even though we didn't live in the country, I was lucky to have the Lewis' land to play in. I think everyone should have a creek to dam up and a rope swing to play on. I wish I could be home to enjoy thanksgiving with you. I am cooking a turkey for my first time today! Scary:)
Thanks, Mac...your memories brought to mind many of those from my own childhood, renewing my gratefulness for loving parents now gone, but never forgotten. The bonfires of my youth; catching crawdads in the creek; cutting willows and old tire strips so Daddy could make us 'beanie flippers;' riding on his lap to the city dumps 'driving' the car; remembering the day of their baptism in our old swimming pool and how icky I thought the water skippers were that skimmed the surface, then a year or so later when Daddy baptized me in a regular font in the Reno 2nd Ward chapel; the excitement surrounding the arrival of my own Granny and Gramps from West Texas ('Granny' must be a southern euphemism as I've never heard it used by anyone else); the fun times with the Idaho cousins; growing up safely surrounded by a warm and loving home. As I've prepared our family's Thanksgiving feast this year, thoughts of my little Mother have been in my every action as I learned so many of my cooking and homemaking skills from her, and I still follow the same hand-written recipes and directions she gave me for my own first Thanksgiving day preparations of my new marriage 38 years ago. Many of the utencils, bowls, and pans I use today came from her own dearly loved kitchen.
Indeed, so much to be thankful for this - and every - day. Thanks for sharing your memories, which opened the door to mine. Have a wonderful day! Lynda
Thanks Mack! I, too, have memories of Hayden Lake, Idaho, spending nearly every Sunday and most of my entire summers, living and working on the farm of my grandparents. We would eat wonderful cinnamon roles, help Grandma push wet laundry through a wringer that was nasty on my fingers when I got careless, stack hay, move sprinkler pipe at all hours of the day and night, climb trees, hitch hike everyday to the lake to swim. What a life!! My grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles will never know the values they created by such openness, support, and freedom provided to my generation. I frequently do, and you caused me to once again reflect on how special and generataion changing those memories are to me.
Love,
Jim
Hey Mack!!
Thank you so much for sending this writing to us! Just tonight, Deena and I agreed that we need to try to see more of the Grubbs.
You are such a gifted writer, putting your readers right into the situation about which you are writing. These memories of yours have taken me back to those days when we too played "Hide and go seek" with the other kids in the neighborhood, ran in the sprinkler, and built forts in the back yard. We didn't have much money but he had a very large measure of love and a patch of woods with a creek running through it and that was a great recipe for a wonderful childhood.
We had a nice Thanksgiving Day at Renee and Gregg's house and now, receiving your writing has been the "icing on the cake".
We love yall and please tell the family we said a great big hello!
Johnny
Thank you Mr. Grubbs!
My childhood was very similar, and it always makes me very thankful as I realize more and more that a childhood that loving and caring is pretty rare these days. I just hope that we can continue to pass this along as we become the "Wiser".
Thanks so much for the great attitude you bring with you every day! It really makes things seem brighter than they were before!
Uncle Mack...I just got to read your Thanksgiving tribute. What a beautiful piece. It is so true how blessed we have been in our lives. I do volunteer work with children that have been taken from their homes because of severe abuse and neglect and it is so sad that these unknowing children weren't blessed with parents who cared and who were wiser than them. I am thankful for my family and for pivotal members like you! Love you! And I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at Christmas (and having ya'll meet Joseph).
Post a Comment