The Grace of Thanksgiving

The Grace of Thanks-Receiving
by Ken Miller

Another bag of coins clattered as it disappeared into the machine to be counted and sorted, bound for the bank. Sales had been good. A smile crept across my face as I recalled the nursery rhyme, “Sing a Song of Sixpence.” The line bringing the grin declared, “The king was in his counting house, counting out his money…” Life is good, I thought. Then I heard a knock on my office door.
On my way to the door the knock came again followed by, “Hey, Miller, are you in there?” I knew the voice and, sure enough, when I opened the door, it was my buddy John from our Out-of-Sight club.
The first time I met John was on the ICC campus in the early nineties. He was returning to school after losing his job as a surveyer due to diabetes. At that time he was using a support cane. The disease had also taken a portion of his sight. As time passed, the relentless thief claimed more and more of his physical real estate. By the time he was knocking on my office door, he had traded the cane for a wheelchair. Diabetes had robbed him of both feet and one leg.
A flash of movement told me that he had something in his right hand he was offering me. “My son did well on opening weekend and I brought you some venison sausage.” Again my eye caught the movement I assumed to be the sausage.
My knee-jerk response was swift. In my mind John was flanked by Tiny Tim, the Little Match Girl and a host of Charles Dickens’ orphans. Surely, I should not take this sausage. Between unemployment, declining health and medical bills, this must represent food for his family. I’ll not take it.
So determined was my resolve, I almost missed His still small voice. He spoke of mercy, humility and His opposition to pride (Micah 6:8, 1 Peter 5:5-7). Yes, it was true. The Lord was using a chunk of venison sausage to show me His grace—and my pride.
Smiling, I grabbed the sausage. “I gotta go,” he said. “My ride is waiting.”
Paul quotes Jesus in Acts 20:35 when he tells us it is more blessed to give than to receive. I suspect John was blessed, but because of that exchange, I, too, was blessed. Blessed by a thoughtful friend and blessed by the intervention of His amazing grace.