Happy Thanksgiving.
I’d like to share the lyrics to one of my favorite songs with you. I think these words have more to do with Thanksgiving than a Noontime football game, turkey, and pumpkin pie, followed by a one hour siesta.
Let no one say that so-called “secular” bands, especially rock bands, cannot come up with lyrics that mean something…even a great deal of something. I was twenty years old when I first heard the words to Pink Floyd’s “On The Turning Away”, and at that time, I was too caught up in myself to bother thinking about what the words were saying to us.
I think these lyrics say this;
He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses. Proverbs 28:27
If you like, you can open your bible and read the entire “chapter”, although I recommend reading the entire book of proverbs, or you may miss the deeper meaning of the book, and each individual proverb.
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?
Today is thanksgiving, and I am seeing more and more each day to be thankful for. Not just the usual stuff, like family and friends, home and food, peace and freedom. Those things are important. But are they any more important than the loud quietness of the deep woods, a single cloud on a sunny day, or the challenge of a problem that seems unsolvable? God has made this world infinitely exciting, challenging, beautiful, and fun. It’s full of colors, emotions, and experiences waiting to be met. Friends, family, and food are wonderful, but so are the mundane things, the little things, the simple things.
Sometimes I think we in
And there it is. If you want to thank your maker, your Father in heaven, then give to the poor, the pale, the downtrodden. Don’t just send a check. Any fool can do that. Give them more…give them attention; balance the amount of attention you give to the “important” people and things with the amount of attention you give to those deemed “less” by the “upper echelon” of this world. For there is no upper echelon, all have fallen short of the glory of God. One day, every eye will see that regardless of status or possession, every single one of us is no higher nor lower than the next.
I guess I’ll call this post “On the Leveling away”, because in the end, we are all on the same level, every one of us. You will meet people who think that by their great effort, they have made themselves better than others. But I go back to the beginning, and in the beginning, there was only God. With a start like that, you tend you know who to thank for all that you have. Without that Beginning, you’d have nothing, be nothing, and know nothing.
Remember the poor and the widows.
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