A Blessing of Hospitality

   Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving. In some ways it was a traditional American Thanksgiving Day, but in other ways it was different from any other that have been ours over the years.

   Yes we had the 3 Fs, family, food and football. We were up here in Blacksburg, VA with our youngest son and his family, and Dawn had indeed prepared a fantastic feast with all the stuff that we have come to associate with the Day. There was the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the green beans, the cranberry dish and the pumpkin desert. And we ate it all.

   Then there was football, which went on into the night. It did not much matter who was playing, we just enjoyed watching it all together. Parts of the family came and went from the TV set during the game, but we all watched parts of it together, and the screen was filled with those images for most of the day and evening.

   But it was a different day also. We shared our feast with seven other people. One from Pennsylvania, a couple from Greece, a couple from Brazil and another couple from India. It was an international Thanksgiving.

   This was a day for hospitality. These 7 folks joined us for all of the above, and we were blessed by having them around us. Doug and Dawn opened their home to four young men and three wives, the men being his students at the University. They were able to show these students true Christian hospitality as they were included in our family day.

   I trust that these men and women were blessed by being there and sharing with us, I know I was. It was great to see the three kids of Doug's family share with these strangers, too. The students were taken right into all the family doings, from all the above features of the Day, to endless games of ping pong and a lot of discussions around the dinner table. It was not only a time of sharing traditions, it was a time of sharing lives on an intimate basis.

   I sit here this morning being thankful to God for all His blessings to me, and I am grateful that He just added one more BIG blessing to me yesterday.

   I am truly blessed.