Giving Thanks in Africa, an article by Lisa Borden

Published: November 25th, 2008

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.  His love endures forever.”
Psalm 136:1

In the countries where I have lived over the last 20 years, Thanksgiving rolls around unnoticed.  There are no cartoon turkeys on decorations in the shops and no children wearing pilgrim hats as they re-enact the feast from long ago. Yet, unlike a list of other North American holidays, Thanksgiving is one of only a few special days that we have transported with us into our lives outside of our passport country.

Why is this?  I believe we’ve chosen to remember Thanksgiving because giving thanks is a celebratory and realigning spiritual activity that brings us back to the basics.  Thanksgiving encourages us to shed some stress and take time to reflect on the goodness of God.

I sometimes wonder if Thanksgiving might be the only relatively modern holiday that is actually mandated in Scripture.  Of course, the Scriptures haven’t actually asked us to commemorate the hard-won survival that those pilgrims achieved through that first year on America’s rough shores.  The Bible does, however, command us over and over and over again to “give thanks.”

As we know, the Thanksgiving holiday is not just about assessing our material circumstances and being grateful for bounty.  Thanksgiving is about the pause to process what we have been through and where we are now.  The pilgrims were, obviously, thankful for the bounty of food they could prepare.  But they were thankful for it precisely because they had been through so much.  A bitter winter with ravenous disease and a severe lack of food and good shelter had taken a harsh toll on their small community.  Greatly reduced in number, they had come through these and learned how to survive in their new environment.   Though it had been extraordinarily tough, they recognized God’s care for them.

In my own life, I certainly see God’s care most clearly when I look back.  I see how he took us to Africa with one organization that immediately went belly-up but allowed us enough time in Nairobi to build relationships that led into a very positive two-year internship.  This internship was deeply significant in our lives and we could not actually have signed up for it from the States.  

I see how the fact that we couldn’t conceive our third child for an entire year was a major blessing because, unbeknownst to me, we were about to experience a total house-fire that would reduce our home to a shallow pile of ashes.   The months after the fire were filled with hard work in very simple circumstances and I was thankful to not be pregnant or caring for a newborn.  When the new house was completed, I conceived and another wonderful boy joined our family.  

My husband likes to say that when he looks back over seasons of life in which he felt that he was just bumbling along, he can see how clearly the Lord was leading him.  In retrospect, he sees God’s hand on the back of his head like a parent who guides his toddler wordlessly through the grocery store with a gentle touch.  

But we don’t tend to naturally take time to look back.  We need the pause to see things.  We need the reminder to recall.

The Children of Israel would gather and intentionally recall the Lord’s faithfulness to them.  I love the way Psalm 136 calls out examples of His care, punctuated by the group response, “His love endures forever!”

God actually instructed them to do this.  Old Testament passages ask them to remember his work on their behalf and tell of it to their children’s children.  

Looking back allows us to look ahead with confidence even into unknown terrain.  At 44 years old, I could move to my 6th country of residence with a firm expectation of God’s care because I could see his provision and attention to detail in the 5 different nations I have lived in before.

Lamentations 3 says:  
“Yet this will I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is his faithfulness!”

Currently, our area is in desperate need of good rain.  I lean into prayer for Tanzania holding onto the memory of dancing in the rain with African friends when other droughts were broken.  I look ahead with expectation and the assurance that God cares about weather patterns.

This week our family will gather with a small handful of friends and eat baked chickens with homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes.  We will make pumpkin pies out of whole pumpkins bought from the veggie ladies who sell their produce along the road and we will hopefully find some fresh whipping cream in our tiny little local shop.  We will definitely enjoy our feasting.

But what we will enjoy more will be the recollections of God’s faithfulness in our lives. Those stories, told around our table on a warm evening in Africa, will continue to give us the hope and confidence that we need to walk into the years ahead. 

Lisa Borden (along with her husband Byron) has spent the last twenty two years nurturing new Christians first among the Maasai in Kenya's wilderness, then among urban tribes of young people in Europe.  They are now living in Tanzania to continue living out the prayer, justice and mission calling on their lives.  While balancing the roles of wife, mother,  and pastor / teacher / missionary, Lisa has found that singing in the shower and dancing in the kitchen keeps her sane.  To dialogue with Lisa and learn more from her, visit her blog.  Lisa and Byron have also set up a website to chronicle the stories of hope from Africa they are involved in.

Post to: Facebook del.icio.us digg Newsvine