Thanksgiving thoughts

Well, I can hardly believe that this week is Thanksgiving! Where has the time gone? I seem to ask myself that question a lot. Kevin's Mom, and sister Mandy, her fun husband Craig, and their two sweet kids will be here on Wednesday. I plan on cleaning tomorrow and start baking all those pies. It's tradition: We have to go completely overboard with the pies every year!

Today is unseasonably warm--around 75 degrees, I think, so I am forcing the kids to stay outside and play for a while. I told them that it's supposed to snow on Thursday and it may be months before we see another day like this, so they have to play just a little longer before the little girls' nap time.

The kids and I finished reading a biography about Gladys Aylward last week. God has really brought it to mind a lot, using her example to encourage and correct me when I tend toward complaining thoughts and attitudes. If you were like me and totally unfamiliar with this amazing lady's life, I will give you a quick synopsis. Gladys was born in England and as a young woman had a desire to be a missionary to the people of China. She failed out of Bible school, and was discouraged by the Mission Board from trying to do mission work; she was actually told that she was more suited to being a housekeeper. Nevertheless, she worked and saved, and bought a train ticket with the intent of locating an American woman doing mission work in China, and becoming her housekeeper. This is getting long, so I will summarize. Gladys almost starved to death, froze to death, nearly escaped being raped and abducted, and ran out of money, all before ever finding the lady she'd come in search of. When she finally did find the missionary, Gladys was disappointed to find not a motherly, kind, gentle lady to serve alongside, but a tough, critical woman who was anything but motherly. And this is only the beginning of her amazing story. My summary is way too long, so I recommend that you read the book yourself!

So, what struck me over the past few days was that I was tempted to focus on how tired I felt (just reading about Gladys' life makes me weary, yet she continued on in faithful service), or how some days I feel like a washerwoman (Gladys had no biological children of her own, but ended up caring for close to 200 children who were orphaned by war--and that is 200 at one time), or other self-focused thoughts, I kept marveling at how wimpy and pampered I am! I have and AMAZING life full of comforts and conveniences, and yet I still tend to complain and be negative in my heart! I have to ask God to forgive me and continue to change my focus: off of myself, and onto Him and the others that I am here to serve and love.

Have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving, keeping your eyes on the Cross and our Precious Savior.