A Feast of Blessings

Bless me, Readers, for I have procrastinated. It has been two weeks since my last posting. Forgive me for the confessional allusion. The weather has turned cold again today. My hands are still cold from the time I spent out on sidewalk duty this morning before school. Perhaps some typing will warm them up a bit. I am really looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. One of the perqs of working in schools is the break time you get around certain holidays. Believe me, school folks need those breaks and I think the students need a break from their teachers too. We all need to come away and rest a while, renew our strength, and get over colds and other winter maladies. 

 I remember being in school and learning about the pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans. I remember tracing the outline of my hand, making the thumb look like a turkey's head and coloring the four fingers different colors to look like the turkey's feathers, making something that looked more like a peacock with a wattle hanging over its beak. I remember another year stuffing a brown paper lunch bad with crumpled newspaper, cutting out a turkey's head, feet, and feathers from colored construction paper, and gluing these onto the paper bag body to make a holiday centerpiece for my mother's table. It was art that only a mother could love. There was also the year we made black construction paper pilgrim hats with buckles on them and matching buckles to tape onto our shoes for a Thanksgiving pageant. When you grow up in New England, Thanksgiving is an important holiday, as you can see. 

 As Thanksgiving approaches, I think of the blessings we have here at Greater Grace Christian Academy. I am thankful for each and every student, from the youngest kindergartner, Sarduis Anderson, to the oldest seniors, Nicholas and Elizabeth Groenewold. They are the reason our school is here, our mission, our treasure. I am thankful for our amazing staff of teachers and administrators who love and have a vision for each of their students as they educate each one in and out of their classrooms. I am thankful for our faithful parents who support our school with prayer and encouragement, who are diligently training their children in their homes. We hope that the school is an extension and complement of the education work taking place in each home. I am thankful for Greater Grace Church for all the resources they pour into GGCA. We have some of the best Bible teachers on the planet because of this church, and I am glad we have a pastor, elders, and trustees that have a commitment to Christian education. 

I am thankful to a great, big God who covers us all with his grace and mercy and teaches us His thoughts and His ways, because we would never discover them on our own. I look forward to the day when we all sit down at the Lord's table in heaven for the greatest feast of thanksgiving of all. We are truly blessed, and I wish all of you the bounty of Christ's unspeakable, matchless joy and peace as you celebrate the blessings He has bestowed upon you and yours.