Debbie Croft: A time to give thanks for all we have, share what we can

Thanksgiving weekend brings people together and provides moments for reflection. I hope you’re looking forward to savoring a little down time with your family and making new memories. With each new season, I’m blessed with more reasons to be thankful.

But in looking back on this month, I find other reasons.

On the first Tuesday of November many of us voted in the midterm election.

Our servicemen and servicewomen willingly exercise their freedom by fighting for freedom in other countries. This past Veterans Day, a wounded and retired military friend spoke in local school classrooms, presenting history from personal experience. Just as one conflict ended in one global region, he would be shipped to another front line to begin the fight again.

He pushes past the physical and emotional pain to deliver his message, because he believes American young people must be informed of the challenges and responsibilities awaiting them.

My own family members have served or currently serve in our armed forces, from the Cold War era to the war on terror. Sons of my friends left Mariposa to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. I’m grateful for their contributions to the cause of freedom.

This month Germans celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

How awful for parents who sent their children across town to spend the night with relatives, only to wake up hours later to find a permanent barricade constructed across their homeland – one that kept their families apart for the next 28 years.

I’ve seen photos, yellowed with age, and heard first-hand accounts of guard towers and barbed wire on the massive concrete wall erected to divide a city. Stories of humans commanded to shoot fellow humans on either side for coming too close.

In East Germany, living conditions quickly deteriorated. Electrical power was intermittent at best and grocery stores’ shelves were sometimes stocked, sometimes not. Alcoholism and suicide took their toll on a depressed people, while the bright lights of opportunity gleamed to the west.

While my dad was stationed in West Germany, I spent part of my childhood among war ruins. I wondered at the pain evident on elderly faces, marked by the memories of a beloved country torn apart.

Across the border, many families live in “homes” made of cardboard boxes or sheets of aluminum. When visiting Mexico it broke my heart to see children and mothers roaming the streets begging for food and money – something to survive one more day.

Families in the Middle East continue to be driven out of their communities. Some grieve over the violent deaths of loved ones. Most exist not knowing if they’ll wake to watch another sunrise.

Closer to home, neighbors and friends struggle to make ends meet. Those who are homeless spend cold nights in local shelters. Some break the law. At least behind bars they’re warm and fed.

Many Mariposa residents, community groups and churches share from their abundance with those in need.

Last week our family joined friends in preparing and serving a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner to the community. It’s something we do every year.

Mariposa’s Manna House benefits from the generosity of its neighbors and local businesses. Our combined donations of time and money to nearby charities, to humanitarian efforts and to local rescue missions do make a difference – especially during the holidays.

As a pastor’s wife, I help plan activities at our church. With closets bursting and houses (and garages, basements, attics, sheds, etc.) full of stuff, I decided we won’t have gift exchanges at Christmas parties this year.

Do we really need more cheap presents to take up space or be passed off to someone else in the next gift exchange? I’d rather focus on the true gift of Christmas, and make someone else’s season a little brighter.

It appears that poverty, war, crime and greed will remain with us. But you and I wake each day with a choice. We can further contribute to the world’s problems, or we can demonstrate compassion by extending kindness and offering hope.

This story was originally published November 28, 2014 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Debbie Croft: A time to give thanks for all we have, share what we can."