Tell Me a Story...

of days gone by...

Oh, dear.  I feel a story coming on...!  There are few things that seem to delight my grandchildren more than stories from the past, full of mystery and wonder.  They sit very close to me in those moments.  Their eyes grow bigger and bigger, trying to picture what it must have been like...

For just a few moments, I have them in the palm of my hand.  They are captivated by a past they never knew.  I can see their faces picturing what it must have been like when Daddy was a little boy, sometimes naughty, just like them!  Such mysteries are fascinating to children. They ask me again and again, "tell me a story".  I so love to oblige...

As Thanksgiving draws closer and closer, I love to tell stories of holidays past.  Here's one just for you!

My daughter, Kimmy, was a junior in college at Knox College in Galesburg, Il.  She had taken a job in the area and would not be able to come home for Thanksgiving.  She had to work.  I don't know who was more disappointed - me or her.  The thought of her being alone on Thanksgiving did not rest well with me.  I pictured her coming home to an empty apartment at the end of her shift with no family, no Turkey, no pumpkin pie, no celebration of the day.  The more I thought about it, the less I liked it.  Finally, the thought occurred to me - if she couldn't come home, we would go there!

And that's how it happened that we packed up a 20 pound turkey, cranberries, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie and whatever else we needed to complete the feast, and made the trek to bring the day to my daughter.  Her siblings all joined in the fun, even if they did think I was a little off the beam to carry a turkey a couple of hundred miles to cook it for their sister.  They knew they had best go along with the program.  It wasn't a suggestion.  It was going to happen, if you know what I mean!

And so we packed the car up with all our goods, Turkey and all, and drove to Kim's apartment to "make Thanksgiving happen" for all of us, but, especially, on this particular Thanksgiving Day, for my sweet daughter.  We were there most of the day before she finally got off work and came home tired and a little down.  When I saw her face, I breathed a prayer of thanks to God that He had led me to her little apartment, on that cold November day, to share that day with this daughter who needed to be reminded that she was loved and cherished by her family.  

It was one of those Thanksgiving holidays that I have never forgotten.  And neither has she.  She told me recently that she remembers that day so clearly, it is etched in her memory forever.  She knew when she came home that day that she was deeply loved.  The best reason of all for thanks, I believe.  For me, as her mother, I am so glad we overcame the obstacles and went out of our way to love on each other that day.  That's what I remember the most.  We made a memory that was filled with love.  Those are the memories that hang around forever.  They make up the stories we love to tell each other.  They tell us, beyond the shadow of a doubt, we are loved, more than we can know.  So loved.  So very, very loved... 

I didn't know on that Thanksgiving Day that in another year, Kim would graduate and make her life a thousand miles away from all of us.  I didn't know that this was almost the last Thanksgiving we would share together as a family around the same table.  None of us knows, really, if this might be the last time we get the chance to be together in this way...  

Because we just don't know if we will ever have another one like this one, Lord, teach us to make the most of the moment we have right now...Teach us Lord, God, to go all out to love each other. Teach us to spend it all for love...

For love that knows no bounds, we thank You, Lord.  We thank you for it all...