Giving Thanks
I have started my celebration of Thanksgiving this week. It hard to celebrate Thanksgiving these days. Everywhere around me it seems that people are putting up Christmas items and stores are competing for buyers already. I am irate at the thought that a holiday that is supposed to celebrate giving thanks and selflessness is being pushed aside in favour of Christmas, which is now a holiday of relentless consumerism. Yeach!
C and I are very big on giving thanks. There are several times in our lives before we knew each other and after where kindness from someone made a big difference. We take very seriously the verse from St. Luke "For unto whomsoever much is given,of him shall be much required" (12:48 KJV). C practices tithing after the custom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I do a variation on this. Since I do not belong to a church to contribute a tithe to, I take my 10 percent and put it into our savings account. If we run into an issue where money could be helpful we have a fund available to us.
This does not mean just money, it also means time. Giving a discouraged coworker or friend a kind word. Ordering in certain things so the family of a sick child has what they need when they need it. Pointing grieving parents to a local support group. Surprising someone with flowers. Telling a child that they did a great job in a play. I think you see where I'm going with this.
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and the Minnesota Historical Society both have fund drives about this time of year. I got my appeals about a week ago and set them aside. Today when I paid the mid month bills I took then appeals out and wrote checks. Keeping in mind that their donations may be down from last year I increased ours. I believe strongly in supporting the work of the these organizations. It made me feel good to to contribute to the preservation of both historical items and information and to the upkeep of the lovely gardens at the Arboretum.
That isn't all I'm doing today. This evening we are taking out the Missionaries out for dinner. We are taking them to Buca in St Paul. There are two reasons why we do this. The first is that it is just plain fun, the other is that we order a lot of food. Way more than we can eat. I do this on purpose. We have enough leftovers to feed them for a day or two. Since the Missionaries are not paid for their work and must live off of funds saved by themselves and their families (although the church does help a bit for families of lesser means) this helps a lot.
I also have to practice the dulcimer as soon as I finish writing. I know what you're thinking, what does this have to do with giving back or giving thanks. Well, C and I have been asked to play a song for the church Christmas program. We are contributing our talents. At least C is anyway. I just hope not to humiliate myself.
After dinner we are going to buy the makings of our own traditional Thanksgiving meal. We do eat turkey and stuffing etc. just like everyone else and maybe watch a bit of football. We're going to enjoy the fact that we have a day off to spend together. We will thank God/Heavenly Father for all the good things that have been provided to us and our family and friends this year and that we may be given opportunities to show our gratitude in the next year.
C and I are very big on giving thanks. There are several times in our lives before we knew each other and after where kindness from someone made a big difference. We take very seriously the verse from St. Luke "For unto whomsoever much is given,of him shall be much required" (12:48 KJV). C practices tithing after the custom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I do a variation on this. Since I do not belong to a church to contribute a tithe to, I take my 10 percent and put it into our savings account. If we run into an issue where money could be helpful we have a fund available to us.
This does not mean just money, it also means time. Giving a discouraged coworker or friend a kind word. Ordering in certain things so the family of a sick child has what they need when they need it. Pointing grieving parents to a local support group. Surprising someone with flowers. Telling a child that they did a great job in a play. I think you see where I'm going with this.
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and the Minnesota Historical Society both have fund drives about this time of year. I got my appeals about a week ago and set them aside. Today when I paid the mid month bills I took then appeals out and wrote checks. Keeping in mind that their donations may be down from last year I increased ours. I believe strongly in supporting the work of the these organizations. It made me feel good to to contribute to the preservation of both historical items and information and to the upkeep of the lovely gardens at the Arboretum.
That isn't all I'm doing today. This evening we are taking out the Missionaries out for dinner. We are taking them to Buca in St Paul. There are two reasons why we do this. The first is that it is just plain fun, the other is that we order a lot of food. Way more than we can eat. I do this on purpose. We have enough leftovers to feed them for a day or two. Since the Missionaries are not paid for their work and must live off of funds saved by themselves and their families (although the church does help a bit for families of lesser means) this helps a lot.
I also have to practice the dulcimer as soon as I finish writing. I know what you're thinking, what does this have to do with giving back or giving thanks. Well, C and I have been asked to play a song for the church Christmas program. We are contributing our talents. At least C is anyway. I just hope not to humiliate myself.
After dinner we are going to buy the makings of our own traditional Thanksgiving meal. We do eat turkey and stuffing etc. just like everyone else and maybe watch a bit of football. We're going to enjoy the fact that we have a day off to spend together. We will thank God/Heavenly Father for all the good things that have been provided to us and our family and friends this year and that we may be given opportunities to show our gratitude in the next year.
KC;
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear you and C play! What is the date of your Christmas program? You must have been practicing diligently to be ready so soon. Last time you wrote about it you were trying to get the correct hammers? I'm looking forward to it!!