Our church does a very large harvest/Thanksgiving celebration on this Sunday. The church is very elaborately decorated with leaves, plants, branches from trees, fruits and vegetables, wheat sheaves, loaves of bread, and the service is full of singing and praise to God for the abundance we have.
I am planning on taking some pictures this time, we will see if they turn out. My camera does not do well inside sometimes.
It always gets me to thinking. Many people here in the USA, feel that hunger is not an American thing. I know that we have it better here than most people do. I am not ignoring that. But I also think our hunger is a bit more subtle.
The lady you watched in the grocery store who is only buying bread and a jar of peanut butter. That might be her lunch for the week, and dinner.
I will never forget being in the grocery store with $5 to spend for the week for food, and figuring out what I could buy for that. I stared and the fruits and vegetables with longing. I thought about going to the food bank, but that was not the kind of food I lacked. Everyone gives you canned peas, uncooked rice, beans and spaghetti. But when I was hungry, I was wishing for an apple, a salad, or maybe some tomatoes. I needed yeast so I could bake bread, or maybe some meat, that did not taste like it was a year old.
I like to people watch in the store and notice what people are buying, but it always helps me to remember that sometimes people, who struggle with money, but do not feel they should accept government help all the time, are the ones I would love to help out with a chicken, and vegetables sometimes.
At this harvest time, I am thankful that my circumstances are not as dire as they used to be. I am thankful that I have vegetables, meat and fruit more often. I have been blessed and while I am still well below poverty level by most people’s standards, I am rich beyond measure!