FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK:

THANKSGIVING IN NEW ENGLAND

By Elaine Ward

Once a long time ago, on Thanksgiving Day in New England, two pilgrim girls were alone in their home.

“The snow is too deep for you to come with us,” said their father. “Your mother and I will be home from church shortly.”

“Remember the turkey,” her mother cried over her shoulder as she disap-peared into the wilderness.

The door was bolted as Priscilla sighed, “I wish I could have gone. Perhaps I would have seen an Indian.”

“Don’t talk that way, Priscilla, and come away from the window,” said Sara, her older sister. “Indians hate the white people.”

“Black Eagle didn’t,” Priscilla protested.

Chief Black Eagle had been their friend, but he had mover deeper into the woods with his family that early fall.

Priscilla stood by the window, staring at the white snow filled with tracks of deer and rabbit and of her parents who had gone to church. Suddenly she held her breath. Her wish had happened sooner that she realized. Outside the door a small Indian boy looked up at Priscilla.

Priscilla ran to the door and invited the boy to come in out of the cold. The small boy hesitated and then shivered, and seeing the warm fireplace, and smelling the baking turkey, he came in and sat down by the fireplace, watching warily out of his right eye.

“Priscilla, I do believe he is hungry,” said Sara. “Some of the food is ready.”

Sara dished some of the food onto a plate and handed it to the boy with a smile. He eagerly ate the food and no sooner had he eaten than he lay down by the fire and fell asleep. The fire made the room warm, and the girls quickly fell asleep, as well.

Imagine Priscilla’s surprise when she awoke to see two Indians towering over her. She was about to scream, when she saw Mother and Father standing with them.

One of the Indians was Black Feather, and he was telling her father how Priscilla had stopped a fight by feeding and then befriending the son of the other Indian, Chief Red Arrow, standing beside him.

“If you come in peace now, come and share our Thanksgiving feast!” Father said to the two men.

From that Thanksgiving on everyone spoke of how Priscilla brought peace to the forest by her love and through her sharing.

We need more Priscilla in this world. People that want to be peacemakers and share what the Lord has given to them. This Thanksgiving, let share what we have, much or little, what counts is the thought; and God will open the windows of heaven and pour blessings until overflow.

A BLESSED THANKSGIVING FOR ALL

Pastor Dora