Preparing For Thanksgiving

I've always enjoyed this little story told by Charles Swindoll, recalling a man's visit to a dismal Veteran's hospital.

"The day I arrived to visit, I saw a touching scene. This soldier had a young son, and during his confinement in the hospital, he had made a little wooden truck for his boy. Since the boy was not allowed to go up into the ward and visit his father, an orderly had brought the gift down to the child, who was waiting in front of the hospital with his mother. The father looked out of a fifth floor window, watching his son unwrap the gift. The little boy opened the package, and his eyes got wide when he saw that wonderful little truck. He hugged it to his chest. He was thrilled by the gift. Meanwhile, the father was walking back and forth waving his arms behind the windowpane, trying to get his son's attention. The little boy put the truck down and reached up and hugged the orderly and thanked him for the truck. And all the while the frustrated father was going through these dramatic gestures, trying to say, 'It's me, son! I made the truck for you! I gave that to you! Look up here!' I could almost read his lips. Finally the mother and the orderly were able to turn the boy's attention up to that fifth floor window. It was then that the boy cried, 'Daddy! Oh, thank you! I miss you, Daddy! Come home, Daddy. Thank you for my truck!' And the father stood in the window smiling with tears pouring down his cheeks."

Yup, that little boy is just like me...usually thanking the wrong person! Often, I must repeat these words from an old hymn in a prayer request to my Father: Tune my heart to sing Thy praise! I get "out of tune", distracted by other things, and need to be reminded to stop, to pause, to ponder all that I have because of Christ. And with humbled heart, I look to heaven with out-stretched arms and say, "Thank YOU!"

Today's post will be part of a devotional carnival via Rachel Olsen. To enjoy more devotions and to find out more about Proverbs 31, I encourage you to visit Rachel at http://rachelolsen.blogspot.com/