Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
(Psalm 26.7
NRSV)
The late Charles Kuralt profiled the family a few years ago before Thanksgiving. The Chandler family had all gathered from the corners of the U.S. to celebrate their parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. Kuralt begins the story with the parents, Alex and Mary Chandler, an African American couple that raised their nine children in a one room sharecropper's cabin in Mississippi. The family was poor, and faced many hardships and uncertain times that would have destroyed many families.
And yet all nine children went on to earn advanced degrees in higher education. Among the careers they represent, there is a dietitian, two teachers, a minister, the chairman of the economics department at Howard University, a technical manager, and the Public Service Employment Manager of Kansas City.
Now, all nine children returned to honor their parents who had made all their successes possible. And as the family bowed their head to thank God for their abundance of blessings, Charles Kuralt remarked, "Whenever I hear that the family is a dying institution, I'll think of them. Whenever I hear anything in the world is impossible, I'll think of them."
Dear God, thank you for the many blessings you have given to me. I am very thankful. Amen.