Early this morning, Robin and I went to Epworth UMC in Denver. When we got there, hundreds of volunteers were busy getting ready for the annual Feed a Family event. Boxes were assembled and then filled with turkeys, cranberries, green beans, sacks of flour, and boxes of mac and cheese, cake mix, cornbread and stuffing mix, and more! Over 600 volunteers made more than 5500 boxes. While most people came to pick up their boxes, more than 1000 needed to be delivered to homebound seniors and others. Robin and I were given a list of people needing boxes so we filled up our car and headed out.
It was moving to knock on a door and be greeted by the people on the other side. One person was a vet with PTSD, who rarely left their house. Another was an elderly woman who lives alone. Another was an immigrant who didn’t speak much English. Another was on oxygen, rarely venturing farther than the length of the cord between her and the oxygen tank would allow.
As we drove home, I thought of the labor of many hands that would now warm the homes of those who received the boxes: farmer and field hands, factory workers and truckdrivers, pastors and laity, financial donors and volunteers all helped create that boxful of food. All were needed to participate in order for those in need to have a tableful of food.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.”
Miracles happen when we choose to walk in the world in ways that are mindful of our interconnectedness. As you prepare your table for Thanksgiving, take a moment to give thanks for those whose names you may never know who are making your meal possible. And may you do all you can to offer greater compassion, healing, and justice to a world in need.
Karen, would it be possible to make the text of your blogs a bit larger and sans serif? It would be easier for our aged eyes to read. God bless you two!
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