A Thanksgiving Story
It's that time of year again. Time for all of us to think of the things for which we are grateful. There doesn't seem to be much of it this year. Fear mongering politicians are trying to scare us into voting for them. Prices on everything (except maybe gas) are going up and unemployment is still widespread. The leaders of this country seem unable to agree on anything except that they want to thwart anyone who isn't on their side.
President Thomas Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints once said, "While there are many things wrong in the world, there are also many things right." (I hope I quoted this correctly, I have been unable to find the original quote) In this spirit I would like to share a Thanksgiving story with you. It comes from the talk 'The Divine Gift of Gratitude' delivered at the October 2010 General Conference. This is my retelling of that story.
There was a family who lived on a farm in Canada. The children of the family would have to go home after school to help with the chores instead of going off to play as their classmates did. The father wanted to show them that the work they did meant something. On Thanksgiving morning he would take the children downstairs to inventory all the food put away for the winter. Then they would go out to the barn and do an inventory there. They would figure out how much hay and grain they had. They would count how many cows, chickens,turkeys,pigs and geese they had. Their father wanted to show them how they were blessed by helping to do the work on the farm. The family would then sit down to the Thanksgiving meal.
The year had started out well for the family. They had some leftover hay and lots of seed. There was also some money put away towards the purchase of a hay loader, an expensive machine that most farmers could only dream of owning.
One day as the farmer helped with the wash, which was done by hand as there was no electricity on the farm, he asked his wife if she though they should get electricity. The wife was pleased at the thought although she did shed a tear for the hay loader that would not be bought.
The lines went up and the house was lit by bright bulbs. There was a washing machine that could do the wash all by itself. There were no more lamps that needed to filled, washed or have their wicks trimmed. They were put up in the attic.
It was the last good thing that happened that year. They planted and the rains washed the seeds away. They planted again and more rain came. Potatoes rotted in the mud. They had to sell their livestock and because everyone else was doing the same thing the prices were very low.
Then it was Thanksgiving. All that they could harvest was a patch of turnips that made it through the weather. The wife suggested they just skip the Thanksgiving meal this year as there was really nothing to cook. Thanksgiving morning the father brought a jack rabbit that he had hunted and asked his wife to cook it. She did so although she mentioned that it would take a long time to cook such tough meat.
When the meal was on the table the children refused to eat. The wife started to cry.
The father went up to the attic. He got one of the oil lamps, put it on the table and lit it. Then he asked one of the children to turn off the lights. There they sat in the dim light of the single oil lamp and the wondered how they saw anything without the bright electric lights that they had. They couldn't believe that it had been that dark before.
The meal was blessed and they all ate. After they,ate they sat quietly, it took the dim oil lamp to help them see that they did still have something to be thankful for.
President Thomas Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints once said, "While there are many things wrong in the world, there are also many things right." (I hope I quoted this correctly, I have been unable to find the original quote) In this spirit I would like to share a Thanksgiving story with you. It comes from the talk 'The Divine Gift of Gratitude' delivered at the October 2010 General Conference. This is my retelling of that story.
There was a family who lived on a farm in Canada. The children of the family would have to go home after school to help with the chores instead of going off to play as their classmates did. The father wanted to show them that the work they did meant something. On Thanksgiving morning he would take the children downstairs to inventory all the food put away for the winter. Then they would go out to the barn and do an inventory there. They would figure out how much hay and grain they had. They would count how many cows, chickens,turkeys,pigs and geese they had. Their father wanted to show them how they were blessed by helping to do the work on the farm. The family would then sit down to the Thanksgiving meal.
The year had started out well for the family. They had some leftover hay and lots of seed. There was also some money put away towards the purchase of a hay loader, an expensive machine that most farmers could only dream of owning.
One day as the farmer helped with the wash, which was done by hand as there was no electricity on the farm, he asked his wife if she though they should get electricity. The wife was pleased at the thought although she did shed a tear for the hay loader that would not be bought.
The lines went up and the house was lit by bright bulbs. There was a washing machine that could do the wash all by itself. There were no more lamps that needed to filled, washed or have their wicks trimmed. They were put up in the attic.
It was the last good thing that happened that year. They planted and the rains washed the seeds away. They planted again and more rain came. Potatoes rotted in the mud. They had to sell their livestock and because everyone else was doing the same thing the prices were very low.
Then it was Thanksgiving. All that they could harvest was a patch of turnips that made it through the weather. The wife suggested they just skip the Thanksgiving meal this year as there was really nothing to cook. Thanksgiving morning the father brought a jack rabbit that he had hunted and asked his wife to cook it. She did so although she mentioned that it would take a long time to cook such tough meat.
When the meal was on the table the children refused to eat. The wife started to cry.
The father went up to the attic. He got one of the oil lamps, put it on the table and lit it. Then he asked one of the children to turn off the lights. There they sat in the dim light of the single oil lamp and the wondered how they saw anything without the bright electric lights that they had. They couldn't believe that it had been that dark before.
The meal was blessed and they all ate. After they,ate they sat quietly, it took the dim oil lamp to help them see that they did still have something to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving from C, Sophie, Skamp! and Colby
(The entire text from the referenced talk can be found on lds.org.)
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