…To Tell You This

“You can blast your way through mud, but you can’t blast your way out of mud.  You have to ease your way out of mud, or you have to get pulled out.”

• Dick Heston, finding me and our Massey Ferguson 165 up to the axles in the mud, circa 1974

“I tell you that to tell you this…”

• Pastor Jon Anenson, Lead Pastor, Lutheran Church of Hope in Waukee, IA

To whatever degree I grew up, it was on a farm in Southeast Iowa, and as a farm kid, Thanksgiving is hard-wired into my circuits. Maybe because the farm is a great place to learn a lesson that we too easily forget these days.

We deserve nothing. Therefore, there is little, if anything, we can do all by ourselves.

Except for getting stuck.

That we typically do all by ourselves.

Here’s where Pastor Jon and Dad co-host the lesson.

“I tell you that, to tell you this…” Jon would say. And Dad would go on, “If you see mud ahead, and think you can get through it, then floor it, using momentum rather than horsepower. If you don’t see it, or if you under-estimate how deep it is, and find yourself in “over your head” (or, up to the axles…), the throttle is not your friend.  Another tractor with a big chain is the way through.”

The “other tractor,” Pastor Jon would say as Dad passed the mic back to him, is God. Everything for which we say thanks at the table on Thursday — it’s a gift. And the fact that we’re even at a table on Thursday giving thanks is a gift.

Thanksgiving is a verb, from where I sit. It’s the active giving of thanks for Blessings we don’t deserve.

2024 has (technical term) sucked, yet when I account for all I’ve been given, all with which He has Blessed me, the list of names, events, experiences and relationships far outweigh 2024’s high level of suckitude. And, for those who are alone Thursday, my prayer for you is that you learn that with the “other tractor,” we’re never really alone.

Even if we’re stuck, let’s give Thanks for the One and the ones who will pull us out, as long as our pride doesn’t keep us in the mud.

Happy Thanksgiving. The Diff is off Friday. Catch you on Monday!