Wednesday Wonder – October 9, 2024

Responsibility.

The word responsibility can be a heavy word. It implies that we have to take blame, credit or do our duty. Now taking credit, especially if something goes right, isn’t so bad, but the others can be soul crushing at times.

Maybe there is a different way to look at it. Let’s think of it as Response – ability. Do we have the ability to respond? With Thanksgiving this weekend, we can stop and think about what our ability to respond might be. I often think, and have shared before, that I prefer the term Thanks – living. Yes, each year this holiday reminds us to give thanks for all that we have. We stop for a quick moment and look around to see what we do have. Then, we gather with friends and family to celebrate our blessings with a feast.

There have been feasts of thanksgiving from the beginning of time. Our ancestors in the faith had feasts several times a year to celebrate harvests and bounty. It is prescribed in the book of Deuteronomy that the ‘first fruits’ be given to God in thankfulness. And there begins our response ability. First fruits were brought because there was a harvest to celebrate. The people could offer up some of what they had received because there was a bounty. Even in hard times, there was a response ability. It may have been smaller and a bit more difficult to make, but it was there nonetheless.

Today, what is your response ability? Have you thought about the bounty of blessings you have? We each have a different ability, but we are all able to give something. What we give, how we live out our response ability, is up to us. It may be as simple as stopping to take a moment to say thank you to God for what we have. Or it may be as large as giving time and money to a cause that helps others in some way.

My favourite Thanksgiving memory has always informed my thanks-living and response ability. The family would gather at my grandparents’ cottage. Most of my cousins would be there. There would be a roaring fire in the big stone fireplace where we all gathered around the table. After dinner, as the adults had some boring conversation (we all think that as youngsters) the cousins would find a way to get into some fun antics. This particular year, we were having a paper airplane competition. We threw many, many paper planes. Sometimes they ended up in the midst of the adults, gaining us an admonishment about being careful. I think that happened after one hit Granny in the head.

It was a fun evening of the cousins bonding, something that has lasted for the most part. But, it also became an enduring reminder of how blessed we are to have family, food, a place big enough for us all to gather, and so much more. You see, we kept finding those paper planes for years to come. They had landed in places we didn’t see, they got stuck up in the rafters and would fall at various times. Every one of those planes reminded me of that one night when I felt safe, secure and loved because of all that surrounded me.

I have been given the chance to continue that feeling for safety, security and love in my own life. It is my response ability to do so for my family and friends. I do it to the best of my ability. This year, I do it for the first time for my grandson. I hope that he will feel it for his whole life.

Also do it to the best of my ability for all of you. And this past year, you have all done it for me in a way I could never have imagined. Our response ability may be as easy as a prayer or as hard as getting out of bed to keep going through a tough time.

 More than ever, I realize how much I have to be thankful for, and I am recommitting to more thanks-living this year. God has provided a response ability and I will use that ability as best I can. What response ability has God given you? May your thanks-living this year reflect that ability.

And may we remember, Thanksgiving may be one day, but thanks-living can be everyday. As constant as God’s love, is our ability to be thankful.

Peace,
Rev. Mary-Jane