This year as Thanksgiving approaches, I am thinking about giving thanks for people beyond my family and friends. An entire web of people surrounds me, some paid, many volunteers, who make my life easier. Store clerks are first on my list. Last week, I was in Peterborough’s “Independent” grocery store, mainly for the fresh salmon special. The fillets were huge. I asked the young man behind the fish counter. “Do you have any smaller?”
Without eye roll or frown, he replied, “I’ll check the box in the cooler.”
“Great,” said a woman behind me. “We’re seniors. We won’t eat that much.”
The young man could have said, “At the counter end we have precut ones.”
Instead, he smiled again, opened the freezer door and fetched a huge box. He set it on his work table and sorted through, looking for two smaller fillets. Both the lady behind me and I thanked him as he searched. Eventually, he found two slightly smaller fillets, weighed them and wrapped them.
“Thank you so much,” we each said as he handed them to us.
It was a simple interchange, but in this world, so much is taken for granted. I left feeling better about life made just a tiny bit brighter because of this young man. He had gone out of his way to get us what we wanted. Just doing his job? Sure, but his willingness to go the extra mile was a boost for me.
When we think about thanking God for the goodness in this world, let’s remember the store clerks, the nurses, the technicians, all the people working at our understaffed hospitals. There are many more. Paid to take care of us? Maybe, but usually. not paid well. They do their jobs and don’t get thanked very often. We need them. Let’s remember that we too, can be a source of God’s light for each of them, even the crabby ones. You may be the only person they meet that day that cared enough about them just to say, “Thank you.”
And it doesn’t end with the paid people. Don’t forget the army of volunteers that keep our churches and all our charitable community organizations going, particularly those who give leadership. I hugely enjoyed attending the Harvest Table Dinner at the idyllic Park by the Needles’ Mill in Millbrook. We were treated royally by the staff of Cavan-Monaghan Township and their cheerful volunteers. We owe a huge vote of thanks to the people who made it happen.
For this week leading up to Thanksgiving and for the rest of the year, let’s make a habit of giving God thanks, through thanking and loving those people who serve us in so many ways. St. Paul said, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Choose at least one person every day to thank for their service. Share God’s light with them for even a few seconds. You will be the person God uses to bring a spark of love and peace into this world. May it be so.
Today’s Faith by Rev. Janet Stobie