Saturday, October 10, 2009

Thanksgiving

Nearly every autumn about this time I think of a young mom I cared for back in the Winnipeg days.

Her name was Arlene and she was a young girl trying to create a life for herself and her baby son, in the heart of Winnipeg. She had come to church with a friend, and though she was quiet, she was fun to be with. She had been raised by people who went to church, but she had kinda never fit in to their church, so she just took to staying away.

She and her big baby boy started to attend the church we were creating there in Winnipeg, but it wasn’t easy to get there so she would often miss a gathering.

She never had much money but she worked hard looking after her son. She also felt a great responsibility for her sister who struggled with addictions. It was hard, but Arlene tried to look after her too...


Read or re-read the rest of the story here.

and have a good thanksgiving.

From a full house, in The Field.

1 comment:

  1. Once when my now grown son was in elementary school and my husband was very ill and unemployed, our church, another church, and the local Santas Anonymous ended up bringing THREE different hampers to our house. There was food, laundry and cleaning supplies, enough cash to pay our rent and utlitity bills and coupons for the local gas station to fill our car; so much that we were able to give some away to others. One of the hampers was delivered by one of my former school students and his eyes got big when he saw who the recipient of the hamper was. It was humbling, exciting, a huge relief, and we learned about giving and receiving in new ways, and we learned that indeed you do not know who is truly in need unless you look carefully. Seeing how God could provide for us as his people through the generosity of Christian and not Christian community gave us a new burst of energy to be giving ourselves. Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. God is good.

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