Friday, October 9, 2009

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. It’s fitting that at least once in the year we take some time to reflect on what we are thankful for. As Christians, of course, we should be expressing our thanks to God daily. I am thankful for a God who loves me and brought me into his family at a time when I was most needy. My attitude towards life changed, even though my life circumstances didn’t right away. The bible tells us to acquire wisdom. I am thankful that today I am wiser than I was 24 years ago, pre-Jesus. But it’s humbling to realize that the “growing in wisdom” never ends.

I am also thankful today for my hard-working husband who puts up with my ever-eccentric interests. I’m thankful for my children, who are all developing as interesting individuals and who all are following the Lord in their individual ways. I’m thankful for the rest of my family, all living close by. What a blessing that is! My good friends are also something to be thankful for. They keep me grounded. God’s grace is sufficient for my needs and I am eternally thankful for what He has provided.

It is fitting that I read The Book of Negroes this week. This tale is a reminder of the suffering that Africans went through for so long in the slave trade. I was on the wait list at the library a long time for this book – it’s obviously popular, and for good reason. It is well written and engaging. My heart broke all along the way and finally on the last page my tears came. This book is not for the faint of heart and is very graphic in its descriptions of what went on. But you will finish it having developed a relationship with the main character and will keep her with you for a long time. What really struck me as we followed Aminata through her life is how long the slave trade went on. When she was captured as an eleven year old and taken to America, there were slaves there who had been born in the United States. And then when she was old and working to end the slave trade, there were still Africans being kidnapped and exported; generations of people forming a tide of suffering, shame and humiliation. We must continue to read books like this one, so that we will never forget and hopefully, never repeat what went on.

One of my WIP (works in progress) resembles a Thanksgiving cornucopia. Can you guess what it’s eventually going to be?

4 comments:

Anne Geddert said...

I cannot guess what your project is!

And I put the Book of Negroes on hold at the library a few days ago and I was #100! Today I was 99. Never done that before - I have usually gone out and bought it =)

PJ said...

Is it a tuque? I like pointed tuques!

Sounds like a great book! Have you ever read "Things we couldn't say" by Diet Eman? Its the true story of a young Dutch woman that helped hide Jews during WWII. Also great.

Maureen said...

Not a tuque, but good guess :) I'll try and finish it this weekend and post for all to see. Where did you get that Eman book? I can't find it at the library. Sounds interesting.

PJ said...

I think we did get it through the library...maybe an inter-library loan? I've seen it available on Amazon.