THANKSBIVING: A TIME TO PONDER OUR BLESSINGS

Here it is, almost Thanksgiving Day again.

How could it have arrived so close to the last one? It seems no time since we were planning the turkey and dressing, the sweet potatoes with orange sauce, the turnip casserole, the creamed onions, scalloped oysters, cranberries in jelly, salad and orange relish and the usual pumpkin and mincemeat pies.

It seems almost un-American not to have turkey and dressing on this special day, set aside for feasting, family gatherings and giving thanks for the blessings of the past year.

Recently we heard plans of a family who was having the traditional turkey and dressing, but also there would be a small beef roast and a small baked ham, so all of the family's likes would be satisfied and all would be happy.

One of the most rewarding dinner plans for the day of this year is a group of international students who will be cooking a turkey with the trimmings for an American feast. A young Japanese girl is making her first pumpkin pie as her contribution.

Each year we talk about all of the plentiful crops, going back to the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims at Plymouth, with the Indians at their modest feast; but today we are going to talk about other privileges and opportunities which we gardeners enjoy.

Jerry M. Parsons, a horticulturist in San Antonio, Texas, wrote some of the "Thanksgiving of Gardening," which he shares:

Be thankful for your physical strength, he says, which is necessary to prepare a garden.

Be thankful for agricultural researchers and educators who make gardening efforts much more productive.

Be thankful for your ability to provide fresh, nutritious vegetables, fruits and berries for your family to enjoy.

Be thankful for your friends and neighbors who will eat your garden-grown vegetables, regardless of how they look.

Be thankful for the look of joy that flows from a child when he picks his first red tomato from a plant he has tended.

Be thankful for the personal pride stimulated by a successful garden.

Be thankful for the miracle of growth which we all, whether young or old, experience each time we plant a seed and watch it grow.

Be thankful for the miracle of life, whether in a plant or a human.

These, as written by Parsons, are some of our most valuable blessings, and those most often overlooked.

A few years ago Dear Abby wrote a Thanksgiving column, asking her readers to take a few minutes to count their blessings. She said, if we had a few minor complaints we should give thanks they are not major. If we awakened and could hear the birds sing, use our own vocal cords to utter human sounds, walk to the breakfast table on two good legs and read the newspaper with two good eyes (or even one), we should be thankful because many persons cannot.

Then she repeated her Thanksgiving prayer:

Oh, heavenly Father, we thank thee for food and remember the hungry.

We thank thee for health and remember the sick.

We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.

We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.

May these rembrances stir us to service.

That thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.

Abby went on to say, if you are lonely the way to have a friend is to be one. If no one calls you, pick up the phone and call somebody, as this is a sure way to cure the blues.

She speaks of people complaining about their pocketbooks being thin. Most of the world is a lot poorer, she points out. They have no pensions, no welfare, no food stamps, no Social Security, no Medicare. In fact, a third of the world will go to bed hungry tonight. Would you rather be here or in some parts of India, South America or Africa?

In this country, freedom rings, she says. One can still worship at the church of his choice, or not at all if he chooses. He can vote for issues in this country by secret ballot and can even criticize the government without being afraid of a knock on the door in the middle of the night.

In our busy life and the hustle and bustle of preparing a family feast, we often tend to overlook the blessing with which we are most familiar.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!