5 Kernels of Corn...

It's a bright blue sky shining on orange pumpkins and brown leafless trees outside our window; making it the perfect Thanksgiving morning!

The children enjoyed listening to this radio drama; the story of the first Thanksgiving.

As I listened during my thanksgiving meal prep, I was overwhelmed again by the redemption and forgiveness in this historic account.

The native American Squanto, who had lost so much personally, was sent along with another Indian Samoset to observe the Pilgrims. After that first harsh winter, when over half of the 102 pilgrims had died, they had built their homes in the shelter of the very location where Squanto's tribe had been the day he was kidnapped by British slave traders.

I don't think we Americans realize after generations of our watered-down version of the Pilgrim story, how many truths from our earliest history are repeating themselves today!

There was much slavery puportrated by the early discoverers of America; kidnapping the Indians & taking them back to Europe to put on display and sell as boughten goods. It's horrifying to think of the disease that swept through the unsuspecting tribes; plagues brought on by travelers from long sea voyages from England and Spain.

But the other startling fact to remember is that the pilgrims themselves were refugees! That little band of Puritans escaped religious persecution first in their home country and then when they tried to assimilate in Holland, found that their persecutions followed them.

Finally, in their desperate wish to live in freedom and practice their faith as they chose, voyaged to a new rugged land filled with unwelcoming inhabitants and harsh living conditions.  My heart broke again for the story of the women and children who suffered during that voyage and during the first brutal winter where they were ill prepared in every way for the elements of Massachusetts.

As Squanto observed them in their squalid conditions, watching them bury their dead, his heart took pity on them. He was even able to forgive the Englishmen though their countrymen had been the source of his own persecution just a few years before.

It is evident in our early American history that God had His hand in the hearts of men; turning the Native Americans toward the English refugees at a moment when they so desperately needed assistance.

I just finished reading the memoir "Dear World" by Bana Alabed. This book is so riveting, I actually read it in one afternoon and evening... I couldn't put it down!

The displacement of families in Syria and many other parts of the Middle East and Africa has rendered the greatest migration of human beings globally since World War II.

As we gather around our table with our loved ones today, enjoying delicious meals that represent the harvest and bounty of blessings in all our lives, we'll remember our earliest beginnings. We will look at the 5 kernels of corn beside each plate: a symbol of the meager food rations - literally 5 kernels of corn per person - that the tiny band of refugees endured that first winter.

They pilgrimaged into an unknown future,  trusting in a Known God; leaving intense persecution for a life of hope and a future of religious freedom for their children.

We'll also be remembering our Christian brothers and sisters who even now are making their own pilgrimages; searching for a place of safe haven to raise their families under religious freedom.

Let's all open our hearts and maybe even our homes as Squanto did, to those who are so foreign from us; those who don't eat or dress the same, look the same, or sound the same. Squanto looked in from his own place of personal difficulties & had compassion: and then stepped in to help and assimilate these newcomers to his beloved land.

Have a compassionate Thanksgiving!
With love from all of us - the Schurter family