This Thanksgiving we gathered in our living room with family.
Communicating, catching up with how each one was doing and what had been going on in her or his life.
Words were tossed back and forth. One said, I remember when I was younger our family lived across the street, we had fun going to one another’s homes for tea.
Then the topic of church. The importance of a church that reaches out to people showing love and gratitude . These two words, love and gratitude seem to stick in the mind.
As a young child, my sisters Vickie, Carol and I spent a weekend at Aunt Velma’s.
We always went to church with her. It was Thanksgiving.
Our Aunt was a great example of love and gratitude. She was very busy the day before Thanksgiving, preparing dinner the day before. She was famous for her apple pie and blackberry pie. She was an amazing woman!
That Thanksgiving she invited my parents to come and gather around her dinning room table.
There was talk and laughter and soon my sisters and I were dismissed to play outside.
The yard was large with plenty of space to run and play. We loved playing a game of tag, running around the side of the house . There were branches and sticks to play with and then break them to throw in the large barrel for burning.
Soon it was time to pack our belongings to go home. The most important thing I remembered to pack was love and gratitude.
Have you remembered to pack up love and gratitude?
*Karen Rast is my late wife Carol’s sister.
