Thanksgiving - A Time for Giving Thanks

"As Christians, we can't love the whole world. But we should remember that God has placed us in a specific community at a particular time. We're called to love those around us. Loving them means serving them - and in doing so, we become the best citizens."

C.S. Lewis

It's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and a time for giving thanks - for all the blessings that we have. I for one truly understand C.S. Lewis' quote for I feel that I have been placed on this earth to love and serve others and in doing so become the best citizen I can.

I am truly thankful that I could cook my family's turkey in an oven and not over the smoky fire that my friend Getrude has to cook over in her tiny windowless kitchen building in Wongonyi Village, Kenya. I'm thankful for being able to flick a switch and have light at night instead of having to use a fumy paraffin lamp that causes respiratory problems. I give thanks that our family can afford school expenses and food each day instead of having to worry where our next meal is going to come from or having to send my children out to work because we can't afford school fees, uniforms and textbooks.

There are many in the developed world who really don't know how truly blessed they are with what they have. In the developing world around the globe, there are millions of people who struggle each and every day just to have basic necessities of life like clean, safe water, education, food, clothing and a safe roof over there head at night. There are millions of children who have been orphaned as a result of HIV/Aids, other diseases and simply poverty - families who have to give up their children because they can no longer afford to provide for them.

On this Thanksgiving holiday, we ask you to remember those who have so little and we who have so much. Life is about gratitude and sharing the great riches we have with others in your own community and around the globe. Love others - volunteer at your local Food Bank, an Out of teh Cold Program or give generously to Share the Warmth programs and if you have been touched by others in the developing world, volunteer and share your talents and expertise around the globe like teaching business skills, working in an orphanage or help building a school in Kenya, Guatemala, India, China or Ecuador.

Thanksgiving - it's a time for giving thanks!

The Beauty of Wildlife

"Rain, rain go away

Come again another day."

This childhood refrain has been playing over and over again in my head as the rain has been falling and falling and falling. I look outside and see all the garden tasks yet to be completed but the wet weather has kept me indoors.

But on Sunday as I replanted some autumn crocus bulbs that the squirrels had dug up, I turned my head and there on my neighbour's lawn was a mama deer and two fawns. Quite a sight for we live in a residential area of downtown Bracebridge. Actually it became a traffic stopping sight as the young ones tried to navigate across the busy road. But finally they all safely crossed the road and high-tailed it down towards the river. We must remember that we humans have invaded these beautiful creatures native areas and forced them into areas they are unfamiliar with.

But getting back to the garden chores yet undone. I keep praying for a sunny day to dry out the gazebo so I can put it away, for the grapes to ripen so I can pick them and make grape jelly before the birds eat them all or they perish with a frost, and the opportunity to clean out all the containers and store them away for another season. The prognosis for the Thanksgiving weekend isn't all that good and I even heard mention of the "S" word - snow!! Please not yet, not until the gardens are put to bed. The sky has been leaden, the pewter shades of winter in the wings and rest to come.