Abundance

Fall time is traditionally harvest time.  The time when our forefathers gathered in their abundance to prepare for the winter months. This tradition lives on. Some of us do gather in our harvest and prepare for the winter months. Others find pumpkins and gourds in the local market and are reminded that this is the traditional time for gathering and thanksgiving.

After celebrating Thanksgiving and counting our blessings, we realize that we do have an abundance to be grateful for.  Some of us have an abundance of family. Some have an abundance of resources. Others have an abundance of desire or an abundance of time. Whatever it is that you count as your blessings, multiply that which you have by sharing with others around you.

I know a woman who shares her time on Thanksgiving morning by helping prepare and serve dinner at a shelter in her community. I have another acquaintance who spends the month of November gathering baskets of food for Thanksgiving dinners for needy families. There is also a church in the neighboring community that sponsors a Turkey Trot each Thanksgiving morning in order to raise funds for the less fortunate. All the runners share by signing up and contributing a sense of community as they race through the surrounding neighborhood on crisp Thanksgiving mornings. What great examples of sharing.

How can you share your abundance? What is it that you have to spare? Or what can you share that is easily divided? Perhaps you don’t have the time or means to participate in a grand gathering, or even a smaller act of service. There are ways to share your abundance.

Kindness can be shared universally and will never run out. I have a friend who feels an abundance in her life, so she is kind to those she meets. She is disabled and can rarely get out of bed, but she finds a way to be kind and grateful to all who stop by. She is grateful for the librarian who sends her books to read. She speaks highly of the lady who stops by to wash her hair. Or the nurse who brings her lunch. She reaches out to many visitors. She has become good friends with her roommate’s nephew. She gives what she has and is happier for it.

We have much to be grateful for. A free land. Freedom of choice. Freedom to choose to live and work and associate in ways that we see as best. Living in America, we have enough and to spare. So lets share a little.