so yesterday was thanksgiving.
i'm sure most people experienced something similar to what i did.
lot's of food. lot's of family.
ha... i actually was fortunate enough to have not one, not two, but THREE thanksgiving feasts this year! tuesday, wednesday and thursday were all celebrations of this holiday called thanksgiving. and i know it's kind of lame to bring up things that you're thankful for just because it's thanksgiving, but as a christian living in america, i'll take all the reminders i can get!
what i'm most thankful for this year is something called New Family. as i gathered together with various friends & family to celebrate & give thanks... i realized that all of these people are my family. and not just in a corny way like, "we're so close it feels like we're family."
no.
God has set it up in a way that when we embrace the kingdom & manna way of life and say together that God is our only king, then we become New Family. we're no longer divided by race, age, gender or anything else in our world that separates us. we are a new family.
at our first thanksgiving gathering, my friend nate invited a man named bill to join us for dinner. nate met bill at a coffee shop a few weeks ago. he was taking his dog moses for a walk & just started up a conversation with him... as bill knelt down to pet moses, he began to weep. bill had no plans for thanksgiving, so he accepted nate's invitation. we all sat down and began sharing what we were thankful for... and when it got to bill he said, "i'm not thankful for much... i'm thankful for nate... and for all of you. i don't have anybody to celebrate thanksgiving with, so you're all my family."
3 comments:
this made me cry honey.
i see jesus in you.
many years ago i too had nowhere to go for thanksgiving. my family didn't even think to invite me, and i had estranged nearly everyone else in my messed up life. my roomate invited me to go with her to some people's house, and i did. i've never forgotten that day, and how we all need someone to step up and include us sometimes, when we are too broken or low to keep fighting to "belong". thanks for being that someone for your new family.
thanks for sharing this danny. love you.
by the way, bill ended up calling his family the next day and drove up to see them. what a beautiful story to be part of.
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