Blessings in the Cubbard

Sitting here looking out my window at the drab scenery, I wonder what I can be thankful for today.  It's cold, it's dreary, it's foggy, and did I mention, it's cold?  As I close my eyes to block out the drabness, I remember seeing a video of a little girl sitting at the dinner table, wearing oversized glasses for such a little face and her eyes squinted shut in deep concentration as she begins pouring out a list of things to be thankful for.  She mentions everyone from parents, to cousins, to animals, on down to the forks and spoons on the table.  Oh, to be as one of these, to have that child like innocence and thankfulness for everything, including forks.


So, I ponder on things in my cubbards.  My cabinets hold, not only dishes, but memories.  I have a bowl and rolling pin that belonged to my grandmother.  She was just a little whisp of a woman, married to my Papa, a gentle giant of a man.  Papa preached and Grandma shouted.  What a heritage they left me.  Papa never learned to drive nor had a car, but he preached all over eastern Tennessee. He would walk into all the little communities and preach his heart out, sometimes getting rides to his destinations and sometimes not, but it never slowed him down.  Grandma was ever faithful to cook, sew, make soap, can foods and clean the house that was the resting place for the man of God. What an example of servitude they were to me.



I have the china cabinet that sat in my mother in law's kitchen from the time I started dating her handsome son at the age of fifteen until she passed away.  It sits in my dining room, holding some of the dishes that belonged to her.  My mother in law took me in when I was a young girl alone.  She treated me as one of her own, she taught me how to cook and how to clean.  She helped me get through weeks of colic with my newborn little boy.  And she loved me.  What an example of generosity she was to me.

Also in my cubbards are little bowls and plates made of plastic with bright colors and cartoon figures on them.  They were some of the first dishes my boys used their little dimpled hands on to pick cheerios out of, and now they're being used by my beautiful grandchildren. My stepmother gave me some of these dishes when I was a young bride and now they are being used two generations later.  What a beautiful example of the continuation of life.

So,as I plan and make preparations for my family to gather on Thanksgiving day, I'll be thankful that God has blessed us with four children and their families.  I'll be thankful that they are all healthy and that they all bring joy to our lives.  As I begin to prepare the feast for the day, I'll thank God for the provisions he has given us...our home that is above anything that a poor, little country girl could ever have dreamed for....the finances to live comfortably, to never go hungry, and to enjoy.

Yes, I have plenty to be thankful for on this dreary day, even down to the last fork.

 

Psalms 31:19 - [Oh] how great [is] thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; [which] thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

Ephesians 5:20 - Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;